Ready for Action (Jedi Master Eeth Koth Padawan Raven Trebeck)
by SWFicWriters
Summary: Sequel to 'Lessons of School, Lessons of Life'. Eeth, Raven and Lakhri are sent on a mission together. In its aftermath, Eeth is confronted with some of his deepest fears. Warning: This story contains spanking scenes of a non-sexual, disciplinary nature and occasional coarse language. Don't enjoy, don't read. We do not endorse the spanking of real children. This is fiction.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello to all who have followed us and to any new faces! This is another instalment in our Star Wars fan fiction that focuses on the interaction between a Jedi master and his padawan learner.

Our stories originated as online role-playing and are situated in our alternative Star Wars universe – well, mainly the universe of Episode One, pretending that the tragedy of the Great Jedi Purge never happened. Ahem. There are approximately twenty-five stories pre-written in this series which focuses on Master Eeth Koth and his padawan learner Raven Trebeck. Although each story can stand alone, it might be a better reading experience to start from the beginning with "Of Padawans Fake and True".

This is the fifth story in the series; it is a sequel to "Lessons of School, Lessons of Life." Raven is twelve years old and has just completed a horrifying period of probation to which she was sentenced by the Jedi High Council due to the events that unfolded in that last story. Now she is ready to move ahead, alongside her master and Eeth's first padawan, Lakhri Tumuel, who has become something like an older brother for her – although he can be quite the authority figure if necessary!

And, let's face it, authority and discipline are central themes to our stories. We realise that our master characters, especially Eeth, will at times come across as harsh to some. However, please keep in mind that this is a fictional universe in which teenagers with extraordinary, potentially lethal abilities are raised to do an incredibly hard, dangerous and responsible job. Their masters feel an obligation to keep them in line in order to protect them and others by various types of discipline, including corporal punishment, i.e., spanking with the hand and different implements. And sometimes, they will need to dispense with the cuddling and tell their charges to do their duty. These are teenagers, after all, not small children. There will always be times to offer comfort and moments of closeness between master and padawan, but they might sometimes have to wait. Plus, masters might have their own issues … which is certainly true for Eeth. His journey with Raven is a learning experience for him as much as for his padawan, which will become quite apparent towards the end of this story and in its sequel!

Fortunately for our padawans, our master characters have near-magical healing abilities at their disposal, allowing us to indulge our preference for strict discipline. There will always be character development, depth and growth through all our stories, so there's more to them than just the spanking. But, yeah, there is and will always be spanking. ;) We do realise that this is not everybody's cup of tea, and we suggest that you not read our writing if it's going to upset you.

If you like our stories (or if you don't like them for reasons other than those of which you have been warned), let us know in a review; we love to hear what you guys think. Okay, so here we go. Enjoy.

* * *

It was a normal school day, and Eeth was waiting for Raven to come home from class. Last night, he had promised to take her to the pools today in order to celebrate the successful completion of her probation period. However, this morning, he had been forced to change plans – a development of which Raven was as yet entirely unaware.

As Raven had neared the end of her three-month sentence, which had been imposed for having disobeyed orders and trying to interfere with a rescue mission sent to retrieve her master from the Antar system, the Council had reviewed her record and pronounced it satisfactory. In Eeth's opinion, this was more than deserved, for the girl had worked hard in the past months. Although her schedule had been lightened somewhat by the fact that her Sunday class on combat strategy with Master She'am had ended two months ago, it had still been more than full enough due to hours of community service, imposed by the Council, and meditation, imposed by Eeth.

At the same time, and to her credit, she had made steady progress in many important areas of her training. Six weeks into her probation period, Eeth had enrolled her in a stealth and evasion class which was still difficult for her as it required a lot of focus; but she was slowly starting to master the skill. She regularly worked with Lakhri, Eeth's former padawan, on Force-enhanced speed, and Eeth had intensified her training in manipulating inanimate objects. Her sparring lessons had become much more challenging since she had been allowed to build her own lightsaber. Much to her relief, this cycle she had been permitted to drop maths, but only to replace it with starship astrophysics, which was hardly less demanding. She was also becoming quite good at drawing on the Force to replenish her energy reserves, although Eeth made sure she did not rely on this technique too often; the Force could not replace proper sleep and rest in the long run. Still, it was going to be extremely useful on missions.

All in all, he thought, maybe the probation period had not been such a bad thing, since it had allowed Raven to gain a number of important skills. And she would soon have an opportunity to put those to good use.

* * *

"Astrophysics is neither stupid nor is it a pointless waste of your time, Padawan Trebeck," Raven mocked her teacher as she lead her old friend, Worik, back to their quarters. Raven had not seen the Mon Calamari boy since they had attended Eeth's advanced saber class together as initiates over a year ago. It wasn't until she ran into him by chance at the padawans' lounge six weeks ago that the two were able to catch up. Apparently, Adi Gallia had offered Worik an apprenticeship, which everyone had hoped was going to happen. Worik and Adi shared a love for diplomacy and all things academic, so it hardly came as a surprise that the Force deemed this a good pairing also.

"Honestly, who would ever need to manually plot a course through hyperspace anyway?" Raven continued griping.

Worik just shrugged. He liked astrophysics well enough. In fact, he was so good at it that he had been put into Raven's class despite the fact that he had only recently become an apprentice.

"You never know when something is going to break," he replied, repeating their teacher's answer to that question.

"Something is going to break alright, my patience for astrophysics!" Raven said, and although she was trying to be funny, there was a bit of truth to that.

"Hello, padawan," Eeth said, looking up from the stack of datapads he was studying when Raven entered their quarters. "How was your day?"

Surprised to see Eeth home, and not a datapad full of instructions, Raven smiled.

"It was absolutely horrifying," she answered honestly, offering him a bow in greeting. She turned to reintroduce Worik to Eeth, only to notice that her friend had not followed her inside. Ugh! For the Force's sake! Raven was long past the stage where a fellow padawan's fear of her master was entertaining. Now the reaction was simply frustrating. Sighing, she turned her attention back to Eeth.

"You remember Worik from that initiates' saber class you taught? The one where we first met?" Raven turned her head towards the door once again, happy to see that her old friend had worked up the courage to join her. She put an arm around his shoulder briefly, offering him some comfort.

"Hello Master Koth. Sorry to hold the door open, but I dropped my bag." he covered smoothly. He was internally doing deep breathing exercises and attempting to force the memories of Eeth teaching his initiates' advanced saber class from his memory.

"Good afternoon, Worik," Eeth said calmly. "Welcome."

Before Eeth could ask any questions, Raven spoke up again. "Master Gallia asks if it would be alright if he could stay with us for a few days. She has been sent on a mission that he has not yet been cleared for and, well, I was there when she left and … might have offered," Raven admitted.

"My master asked me to give you this," Worik inserted, passing Eeth a data chip. "I believe it is a list of my duties, and a few alternative places I might stay if this arrangement is inconvenient."

"Not that we looked at it or anything," Raven interjected quickly.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. He would have preferred it if Worik's master had asked him herself, but of course, some assignments were too urgent to allow for that; and besides, it seemed as if his padawan had volunteered.

"You might have checked with me before making commitments," he pointed out to Raven. "Be that as it may; Worik may stay for one night, but no longer than that, because we will be leaving on a mission tomorrow night, too, and we will need the day in order to pack and prepare."

"What! We are? What mission, with whom, to where, for how long, and why?" Raven asked in one long breath, ignoring the slight rebuke over having not asked his permission. It had been a shock when her mission clearance had once again been validated, but the cynical padawan had thought the chances of them actually being assigned a mission almost non-existent. Of course, Raven had not said any of this as Eeth had no patience for any kind of self defeating attitude, and she had no desire to be stuck writing lines. That had happened before and it had been horrible!

With a slight smile, Eeth said, "I had volunteered our services for this assignment for a while now but due to unforeseen developments, things will have to happen faster than the Council had expected. The mission is to Larivan, a planet in the Hevelan system where Lakhri has spent two years trying to settle a civil war. Larivan was the first planet in the system to restore peace. They have now applied for membership in the Republic. They have also voted on establishing a democracy and sending their royal family into exile. The Council intended on sending us to retrieve the family and escort them to Coruscant, which would not have been entirely without risk because there are royalists who want them back as well as antiroyalists who want them dead. The situation has, however, been complicated by the fact that the royal family have suddenly disappeared, which has forced the Council to reschedule our departure. We are to find the royal family, if possible, and if they are still alive, of course. It is highly likely that they are still on Larivan somewhere because outgoing traffic has been closely monitored. Since Lakhri knows the system, he has been asked to join us. Does that answer your questions?"

Without giving Raven a chance to respond, he turned towards Worik. "Please bring your bag to Raven's room. I have only prepared lunch for two, and it is nothing that will appeal to a Mon Calamari, so I will have to order in."

Both padawans were intrigued! But it was Worik who spoke first.

"Thanks," he said and rushed off for what he hoped was Raven's bedroom. Most quarters were the same, after all.

Raven frowned slightly at her friend's hasty compliance, and then she turned that expression on the cause.

"Master, you've really got to start working on your image," she informed him.

"Why do I have to start working on my image?" Eeth asked serenely while opening the screen for ordering from the dining hall on his terminal. "The terrifying-master-wielding-a-paddle image suits me just fine, thank you." He punched in the code for a standard Mon Calamari meal.

Raven snorted but couldn't really argue with that. True, Eeth could be terrifying, but he wasn't like that all the time as was rumoured.

"I can't believe it. I get to go on a mission with you AND Lakhri!" She shot him a suspicious look, wondering what the catch was: where were the ceremonial robes? Was she to be left at another security booth while Eeth and Lakhri did all the work? It was at that moment that a more comforting thought occurred to her. "At least with both of you there it lessens the chances of me screwing everything up," she said, her mind wandering back to the last mission she had gone on. Well, actually it had been her only mission, and she had fucked it up.

Worik had caught the tail end of that as he returned to the common room and thought her lack of confidence crazy. Raven was a talented apprentice, even if she had gotten off to a rough start. He didn't comment, though, as he was still getting over his nerves at being in the same room with the man responsible for terrorising half the initiates in his saber class.

Eeth did not think Raven's lack of confidence crazy, exactly; "appalling" was probably a more apt term. His face darkening, he turned on his padawan.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" he inquired sternly.

The tone of Eeth's voice had Raven's brow rise.

"It means only that," she said, thinking it best to backpedal a little lest Eeth think her comment self-deprecating. "The last time we went on a mission, I almost got both of us killed, is all."

"Yes, because you were disobedient," snapped Eeth. "There is no reason for history to repeat itself and for you to continue making poor choices. You have got the necessary skills. Lakhri and I are not going to babysit you. We are going to rely on you as a full member of our team, with all the responsibilities that come with that position. Is that quite clearly understood?"

Despite the fact that he was telling her off, Raven couldn't help the tiny smile that tugged at the corner of her lip. She was going to be a full member of their team! Not just ordered to stay in their quarters the moment they arrived, never to see the light of day. Eeth was going to let her do things. Catching herself, the padawan feigned a cough and quickly schooled her features.

"Yes, master, understood."

Raven might be taking this with a grain of salt, but Worik's insides had just frozen. Outwardly, however, he remained calm; the shit had not actually hit the fan, yet.

Eeth gave Raven a curt nod and turned towards Worik. He said quite pleasantly, "Your lunch will be delivered in a few minutes, whereupon we will eat. I had planned to spend the afternoon in the gym with Raven and Lakhri, my former padawan and a member of our mission team, in order to go through the most important Force control and fighting techniques we might need on our mission. Raven will be excused from homework today. It might be best if you took part in the open sparring class that takes place in the main gym at three and did your homework after that. Or do you have anything else on your schedule this afternoon?"

"NO HOMEWORK! Force! That's the best news I've heard since, well, since FOREVER!" Raven whooped, before Worik could get a word out. She was practically beaming, and visions of flushing her astrophysics assignment down the 'fresher only added to her elation.

Worik, on the other hand, had plenty of homework as the classes he took were mostly on diplomacy, strategy and tactics. Sure, he was gifted with saber prowess, but he much preferred to do his fighting at a table. He smiled at Raven's reaction; he rather enjoyed homework himself, but he wasn't about to detract from Raven's joy by saying as much right now.

"I can do the session at three. I have enough homework to keep me busy after that," he said, still smiling as Raven was practically vibrating beside him. He was secretly grateful for the fact that Eeth had not invited him to join them for their gym session. Half a cycle of classes with the man had been more than enough for him!

"Padawan," Eeth said, "the fact that you have no homework today does not mean you will not have to do it. You will spend much of our hyperspace travel, which is going to take approximately five days, doing school work in order to prevent you from falling behind. Today, however, mission preparation is more important. Now help me set the table, both of you."

Raven's face fell. Five days worth of hyperspace and homework! Ugh! However, it was still a mission, so it was not something the padawan planned to gripe about, at least not now. Besides, she guessed that listening to her take on Eeth over something like that would probably be too much for Worik to handle.

Throughout the afternoon, Eeth and Lakhri guided Raven through several sets of exercises in sparring techniques, basic stealth and evasion – an area that Eeth hoped they would not have to rely on too strongly –, Force-enhanced running, jumping and Force-cushioning falls. Eeth had no idea what to expect on Larivan, and he thought it best to be prepared. Lakhri was not able to make any predictions either. According to him, the planet was among the more peaceful ones in the system, not that this meant a lot, and the royal family had their main support base in the cities, while the tribal areas were hostile to them. Either their supporters were hiding them somewhere; or they had been abducted or, more likely, killed by members of the tribes. It was going to be up to the three of them to find this out.

They returned to Eeth's quarters for an uneventful dinner, after which Eeth gave Raven and Worik permission to go out until eight thirty.

Eeth and Lakhri had worked Raven hard, but despite her exhaustion, there was no way she was going to admit being too tired to go to the padawans' lounge with Worik. Mustafar would freeze over before that ever happened!

Worik took delight in regaling Raven's group with tales of how he had bravely survived the day with Eeth. He really was quite a story teller and had the entire group's attention.

Raven was glad for this as she wasn't really in the mood to put a lot of effort into talking tonight. She lounged back into the couch and listened quietly. Lakhri had been correct when he had said that most of her peers would simply be impressed that she managed to survive an apprenticeship under Eeth. It did make her smile, though. Eeth really wasn't that bad; at least, she didn't think so.

Unfortunately, Raven lost the war with her eyelids and dozed off. It was a mistake!

"Raven? Raven? Raven!" Worik shook her gently, trying to wake the girl so they could head home.

"I'm up, I'm up! What time is it?" she said with a yawn and sat up abruptly. That motion sent several com chips, plastic cards, apple cores and other items they had piled on top of her as she slept flying onto the floor.

"Argh! You all suck!" she replied tolerantly, knowing full well that she would have been in on it, had one of them fallen asleep during their free time.

"It's eight thirty, we should be going," Worik replied, brushing a few corn chips from her hair.

Raven frowned and looked at her watch.

"Eight thirty? But we're meant to be home now, not LEAVING now!" she groaned, springing to her feet and dislodging the remaining corn chips as she took Worik's hand.

"You are joking, right? We will be back in less than five minutes!" Worik said as the two jogged along the corridor. He hadn't been worried before, but now he was starting to become concerned.

"Well, no. He'll have something to say about it if he's home, but there is a good chance he won't be there, so stop freaking out. Besides, doesn't your master get pissed if you're home late!?" Raven asked incredulously as they rounded the final corner.

"Sure, but not over five minutes!" Worik said, suddenly feeling quite ill.

Raven could tell he was freaking out, and so she stopped him before they entered.

"Calm, try not to look like we rushed. He'll probably just tell us off, and maybe we'll have to go to bed or do some extra meditation," she assured him. "It will be okay."

Worik didn't look convinced, but he followed her through the door in any case because what else could he do?

Eeth stood up from the table where he had been studying his pile of mission briefings and folded his arms over his chest.

"You are late, padawans," he said severely. "And from the look of it, it appears that you have been running to be here in time. Explain yourselves."

Worik glanced sideways at Raven, who was busy trying to think how to explain. Admitting that she fell asleep wasn't going to happen, but nor would she lie or blame Worik.

"We just left late. I'm sorry," Raven settled on. She wasn't willing to look at the expression on Worik's face. Two reasons: firstly, she might just crack a smile if she saw it, and secondly, if Eeth was pissed off, laughing at him was going to go down like a lead balloon.

Eeth looked at her with narrowed eyes for a moment. Then he pointed a firm finger towards his bedroom and said: "Please wait for me in my room, padawan. I will be with you in a moment."

Raven gave Worik an apologetic expression and left for Eeth's room. She had known Eeth wouldn't be happy, yet there wasn't a lot she could do about that.

When she had left, Eeth turned on Worik and said sternly: "While you are staying in my quarters, you will pay me the courtesy to adhere to the rules. And that includes minding your curfew and going home in time so you do not have to run through the Temple corridors, which is against Temple rules. Am I understood?"

By this stage Worik was crapping out tacks, and had the man not been standing mere feet from him, he might have attempted making a run for it.

"Yes, Sir. I am sorry, it won't happen again," he replied earnestly, trying hard to keep the quiver out of his voice.

"I should hope so," Eeth said severely. "Now please go to Raven's room and get ready for bed."

Worik nodded and took off so fast for Raven's bedroom that he was practically a blur. It was only once he was safely inside, with the door closed, that the boy took a moment to relax!

Even to Eeth, coming home a few minutes after curfew did not quite warrant a spanking. He was not pleased with Raven at all, however, and the look he fixed her with when he entered his room told her as much.

"Padawan, are you actively trying to make me reconsider my decision to entrust you with any amount of responsibility during our upcoming mission?" he asked sternly.

Raven's shoulders slumped a little at hearing him mention their mission and hint at a lack of trust in her, but again, she had kinda expected as much. Raven had always had a propensity to run late, but Eeth had mostly been curing her of that over the past year.

"No, master," she said sheepishly as Raven really didn't have any valid excuse for coming in late other than to blame Worik, and that wasn't going to happen. "So, did you scare the tar out of Worik? You know the story will be huge by the time he's told it a few times," Raven added, hoping to change the subject. Not that this ever worked.

"I do not care about the gossip Worik tells," Eeth snapped, "I care about your behavior. When I tell you to come home at eight thirty, you come home at eight thirty. And that goes tenfold during a mission. Are we totally clear on that?"

Okay, so Raven had expected that. Still, she sighed at his lack of humour.

"Yes, master, crystal," she answered, fidgeting with the hem on her tunic sleeve and not meeting his gaze. It had not been the worst kind of misdeed, but lately Raven had managed to keep out of trouble, and she was eager to continue that streak.

As Lakhri might have been able to tell her, Eeth never felt particularly humorous on the verge of a mission. Glaring at her, he said brusquely: "Consider yourself warned. Any incident of tardiness during our mission, and your backside will pay the price. Now go and get ready for bed. When you are finished, you and Worik will meet me in the common room for our evening meditation."

Raven didn't exactly relish the idea of copping it over something as stupid as being tardy! Stiil, she was entirely unwilling to push him any further.

"Yes, master," came the predictable response, and she took off out the door almost as fast as Worik had left their common room a few minutes earlier.

"See, you survived. I told you so," Raven teased upon finding her friend brushing his teeth.

Worik spat into the sink and huffed, "Barely," although whatever he said next was indecipherable given his mouth was once again full of toothbrush.

Raven nodded her agreement in an effort at placating her friend and pulled on her sleepshirt. Worik wasn't really upset, he was just venting a little, and that was totally normal. Heck, Raven did it often enough with Lakhri!

* * *

Worik had not exactly slept well that night. It wasn't because he had been uncomfortable; the mattress Eeth had supplied him was more than ample. It was due to worry about his master. She was on a mission without him, after all, and that would weigh on any padawan's mind. Suffice it to say that when Eeth flicked on the light at 6am the following morning, the boy was unusually sluggish. He half stumbled, half sprang to his feet, sitting on Raven in the process.

"Worik, you spaz-ma-tron!" came the predictable protest from Raven as she pushed at his back to get him off her.

"Good morning, padawans," Eeth said, completely unfazed. "Time to get up. I expect both of you in the common room for our morning meditation in half an hour."

"Morning, master," Raven replied through a yawn. Once he had closed the door, she curled into a ball.

"Since you sat on me," Raven started, the only part of her visible from beneath her blanket cocoon being a raised finger, "it's only fair that you go first. I'm going to sleep for another fifteen minutes while you shower."

Worik still looked a little shell-shocked, but by now he had mostly remembered where he was and what was going on. "Fair enough." And it was, in his opinion. That didn't mean he hadn't found sitting on Raven amusing. He totally had.

Exactly half an hour later, the pair pushed and shoved as they raced each other into the common room, both padawans laughing at their game.

Eeth supposed that was why no master had more than one padawan to take care of. Anything else might drive the most patient of Jedi insane. He wondered how the creche masters did it.

"We will perform half an hour of meditation now," he explained to Worik. "After that, we will have breakfast."

He had taken care to order some food that was edible for Mon Calamari from the commissary last night. He and Raven were going to stick with grains, fruit and yoghurt, though. Mashed algae were not Eeth's idea of breakfast.

"You look tired, you okay?" Raven asked Worik over breakfast. She had not really linked with him during their morning meditation, as she had been focusing on Eeth and their bond.

It briefly occurred to Worik to gloss over it, but then, he had never been the sort to hide his feelings. "I'm worried for my master. This is the first mission she has been assigned without me, and I feel like I should be with her," he answered honestly.

"Oh. I – umm, I know how you feel…" Raven replied, not at all comfortable with the topic, but equally wanting to help put her friend at ease if she could. "Just try to think that she has been on a gazillion missions before. It's only for a week or so, right?"

"Ten days at the most," Worik said.

Raven met him with an expression that could only come from someone who knew exactly how he felt, but had not dealt with it half as well.

"Be brave, she'll come back," she said softly, and placed her hand on his. "Right, master?" Raven said, wondering if he would know how to help. After all, Worik was a boy, and Eeth was, well … not exactly a boy but male all the same. Perhaps there was some sort of secret guy-speak she was not privy to?

"I think it unlikely that she will take more than a week," Eeth said. "Since Master Gallia is a highly accomplished Jedi with a padawan who is waiting for her, she might come back even sooner. Of course, that is little consolation for a padawan who is left behind. I do not know of a single padawan who would not resent the situation and worry about their master. The best thing to do is probably to think about what your master would expect from you while she is gone, namely, to get on with your lessons and training as well as possible. It can also be a possibility to work with other Jedi. Do you still have a grandmaster, Worik?"

"I do," Worik answered, appearing to be rather happy with Eeth's advice and suggestions.

Raven had half expected Eeth to tell him to harden up, work harder and learn lots! That he had not had her smiling, too.

After breakfast, Worik got his things organised, and once ready, he hugged Raven and wished her luck.

"You'll do fine, wait and see," he told her before turning to face Eeth. "I have classes as normal, and I know where I am going. Thank you for allowing me to stay, Master Koth," Worik said, offering the man a bow as he threw his pack over his shoulder. If he were being honest, being stuck with Eeth Koth had not been as bad as he had made out in the padawans' lounge the night before. Not that he ever let the truth get in the way of a good story when it came to such things!

After having said goodbye to Worik, Eeth gave Raven more details about Larivan, its royal family and the social and political climate. When he was halfway through, Lakhri came in to join them, and his good-natured comments about his personal experience in the place helped much to give a more vivid impression of conditions there.

"The main feature," said Lakhri, "is rain. It always rains. And that's ALWAYS. People over there are half-amphibious or something; they actually feel uncomfortable in dry air. Unfortunately, we don't. So pack a lot of waterproof gear. Not that it's going to be much use; the rain will get in eventually. It penetrates everything. You might as well live underwater, only they wouldn't send us on one of those missions if they could help it. They'd pick Mon Calamari or Ishi Tib for that."

"Yes, I am sure the place is charming," Eeth remarked wryly.

After hearing Lakhri's description of Larivan, Raven was consumed with thoughts of Glee Anselm, Ando and other aquatic planets. It was fleeting, though, as apparently Larivan was not a true waterworld, it just rained … A LOT!

"Joy," she replied, but was far from down on it; wet or not, any mission that had both Eeth and Lakhri was bound to be amazing.

"Be that as it may," said Eeth, "we will have to find the royal family, and that will be easier if we retrieve as much information as we can. Anything that might help us once we are on Larivan."

"Off to the archives, then," said Lakhri cheerfully.

And that was where they spent the morning and the better part of the afternoon. Eeth and Lakhri showed Raven how to search for and store information. They worked with Raven in turns, explaining to her which information to store on data chips and which to discard.

Finally, Eeth decided they had gathered most of the relevant data and needed to start preparing for departure.

"Let us go to the gym and put in another practice session," he said. "We will pack after dinner. We are scheduled to leave at nine."

"That's the best idea you've had all day," remarked a now stir-crazy Raven. The hours of research had worn out any patience she had for sitting around, and she was now eager to blow off the excess energy.

Today's practice session was similar to yesterday. After all the time they had spent searching for records, Raven enjoyed every second of it.

"Are you going to have dinner with us, Lakhri?" Raven asked after Eeth called their sparring match to an end and she had caught her breath enough to speak.

"Yes, but we shall have to make it quick," Lakhri replied. "I have my own packing to do."

During dinner, he entertained Raven and Eeth with more descriptions of Larivan. Larivan's major landmass was more of a swamp, with occasional patches of hard earth on higher ground. It had a few big cities and a lot of tribal areas.

"Never leave the roads unless you are forced to," Lakhri advised. "You never know where the ground will be able to carry you. Our sense of the Force helps us there but it requires a lot of focus."

After dinner, he left. Eeth promptly sent Raven to pack.

"Remember, waterproof gear," he said. "No warm clothes will be needed since the climate is tropical."

"Got it," Raven replied and went to do as instructed.

Raven did not own much in the way of waterproof clothing. She did, of course, own all the basics, which she hastily shoved into her pack along with the other essentials.

Twenty-five minutes later, the girl was packed and ready. She tossed her bag onto the couch in their common room and went to sit at the table where Eeth was standing, checking items off a list on a datapad and frowning in concentration.

"When do we have to be at the hangar?" she asked, not really wanting to interrupt him, but at the same time, not sure what else to occupy herself with in the meantime.

"I told you we would need to be at the hangar at nine," Eeth said in a disapproving tone of voice, clearly not happy that his padawan had not remembered. "That means we will leave here at eight forty. Now kindly let me make sure we do not forget anything important. We have no way of knowing whether there will be any shopping opportunities in the course of our mission."

"Grumpy," she huffed, stalking off to their couch where she flopped down and turned on the holo.

"If you are bored," Eeth said coolly, not looking up from his list, "clean out the cooler and dispose of what is left in there. That will be a better use of your time than watching the holochannel."

"I am no longer bored," Raven replied, not moving from the couch.

Eeth turned abruptly and strode over to the couch, which caused Raven to jump up like a shot.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Raven said hastily, both hands raised in placation.

Paying her assurances no mind, Eeth turned off the holo with a wave of his hand, turned Raven around and propelled her towards the kitchen with a resounding swat.

"We are leaving on a mission in half an hour," he snapped. "I will not have you laze about. Go."

Raven resisted the urge to tell him that she was already GOING, if only because that had really hurt and she didn't want to risk getting any more. Still rubbing, the padawan slunk into their kitchen and did as told.

Finally, it was time to leave. They picked up their bags and made their way towards the hangar. Lakhri came hurrying up behind them just as the hangar doors slid open, his robes slightly dishevelled and his hair messy as usual. He seemed quite unperturbed by it.

"Hello, Eeth. Hi, Raven," he said, grinning at them and completely ignoring the sour look he received from Eeth for his appearance. "I just remembered that the advantage of getting to transport a royal family is that you get assigned a luxurious ship." He gestured at the huge starcruiser waiting for them.

"Yes, well," Eeth said with distaste, "if you happen to like luxury… Let us go on board, then."

"Woah. This is awesome!" Raven said, ignoring Eeth's comments on luxury. "Do we get to do any of the flying ourselves, or are there pilots?" she asked while whizzing from point to point trying to check things out.

"Calm down, padawan," Eeth said severely. "This ship has about twenty-five rooms, and you will have time to explore them all. For now, we will go to the bridge from where Lakhri and I will bring us into hyperspace. When the ship is on autopilot, we will all go to bed. The Council did not see any need to equip us with additional pilots, so we are going alone."

"Twenty-five rooms, and we have the whole ship to ourselves until we reach Larivan? That has to be the most awesome thing I've ever heard!" Raven replied, ignoring his comments about calming down and going to bed. She was totally calm, in her opinion.

Raven paid close attention as Eeth moved to the pilot's seat and began plotting a course into their navigation system, and Lakhri automatically took the co-pilot's seat on his right where he started running through a sequence of checks. This left the engineer's spot free, so the padawan eagerly strapped herself in. There were far too many checks, double-checks and sequences to the take-off procedure for Raven to even try and remember them all. However, once they were airborne, she scooted forward a little in her chair to watch as Lakhri began prepping the hypo-drive generators. They would make the jump to hyperspace as soon as Eeth cleared them.

It had all been very exciting to Raven, who loved anything and everything about flying. She had paid close attention, too, making sure that the codes to and from the cockpit were memorised along with a few other details about the ships emergency systems. Raven could have watched this all night. Unfortunately for her, once they were safely into hyperspace, and the autopilot engaged, Eeth stood and decreed that they should all unpack and go to bed.

"After all, it is past ten o'clock already," he said. "You will need your sleep for the mission that lies ahead, padawan."

"But, wait, we have five days to sleep, can't I explore the ship for a while first?" Raven said while unbuckling her restraints.

"No," Eeth replied flatly. "It is high time you went to bed. Go get yourself ready. We will make it a quick evening meditation."

He pointed at the door that held Raven's spacious cabin, which was in between Eeth's and Lakhri's equally spacious ones. They shared an extremely large refresher that was located on the opposite side of the corridor.

Raven frowned slightly at Eeth, and then tried Lakhri. She met him with an imploring look; he was her last chance of getting her way without having to argue her case.

Lakhri merely shrugged. "It's not going to be all that exciting anyway," he said. "Mainly empty rooms. And it IS getting late. You'd better get as much sleep as you can during out trip, because sleep is sometimes pretty hard to come by on the ground."

"You're both being unreasonable. I stayed up for twenty-four hours to complete my lightsaber. Is it really too much to ask that you let me look around?" Raven wasn't exactly being disrespectful, but nor was she going to let this go without giving it a good crack. Understandably, if you asked her. Meditation and bed were the last things on her mind right now!

Eeth grabbed Raven's arm, bent her forward and applied three scorching swats to the seat of her pants, each of which drew a yelp from his padawan.

"We are on a mission, padawan," he snapped. "When you are given orders, you obey them. You do not argue and you most definitely do not call us unreasonable. Is that quite clearly understood?"

The moment Eeth righted her, both hands immediately flew to her backside. That had really hurt, not that this came as any surprise; it always really hurt! Raven pulled from his grip, folded her arms and tried to act like her backside was not on fire right now. Instead, she kept her eyes on the floor and gave a curt nod.

"Yes, master. I'm sorry." Because it was the only answer she could give that wouldn't land her in more trouble.

"Beware," Lakhri informed her. "Eeth is in full mission mode, and as you might have noticed, that means he is even less tolerant than he is at the Temple, impossible though that sounds."

Eeth shot him a reproving look. "Come with me for a moment, padawan," he said. He steered Raven into his cabin and waited until the door slid shut behind them. Then he lifted her chin up with a finger, forcing her to look at him.

"Listen, padawan," he said in a low, solemn voice. "When this mission was first planned, it was a relatively straightforward escort affair that the entire Council deemed suitable for a padawan your age. Once it became apparent that the royal family had disappeared and needed to be found, a number of Council members were inclined to assign this mission to a different team with a more experienced padawan. I had to muster quite an amount of persuasion to convince them that you were ready for this and would not jeopardise the success of this mission. You have worked hard these past months and have made a lot of progress, and I wanted to reward you with a mission that will allow you to gain practical experience. I also thought you might like to work with Lakhri whose assignment to this mission had already been determined, due to his experience in the Hevelan system. My point is that many people, including myself, have put a lot of trust in you by allowing you to take part in a mission that would normally have been assigned to an older padawan. In return, I expect you to be on your best behavior, ESPECIALLY where obedience is concerned. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"That a lot of people don't think I'm up to the mission, and you had to convince them that I am, and now you don't want me to make a liar out of you. I'm not exactly thrilled about hearing that," Raven admitted, but she did not pull away from him and kept her gaze on his.

"Padawan, I know you are capable," said Eeth firmly. "You just need to make an effort. Starting now, not five days from now. You have the necessary skills. You just need to obey my orders. All of them."

"But maybe if you didn't give me so many orders, it wouldn't be so hard for me to obey them all … And we would meet somewhere in the middle?" Preferably without the sore ass which Raven was currently nursing, but she left that part out.

Eeth's eyes narrowed. "There is absolutely no reason for us to meet anywhere in the middle," he said icily. "You seem to labor under the misconception that we are on equal terms here. We are not. So, are you going to obey, whether you like my instructions or not, or do we need to discuss this more thoroughly?"

"No, wait! It was just a joke, I was only joking," Raven rushed to say, turning her back to the wall just in case. She absolutely did not want to escalate this any more than it already had.

"I should hope so," Eeth said severely, giving her one last glare before letting go of her. "Now go, unpack, get ready for bed and join us here for our evening meditation."

"Yes, master," Raven said quickly, rushing to do as he said. This was not exactly a great start to her second mission. This wouldn't do. There was just no way Raven wanted a repeat of the last mission; it wasn't happening. Thus, she silently vowed that she would do better. She had to do better!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hi all. This is just a short note to say thank you to all who have followed us so far. It's very much appreciated, and it always makes us smile to read what people think of our ideas and writing. Disclaimer: this chapter depicts graphic violence in way of a hologame. It is nothing you wouldn't expect from a nineties arcade game, so nobody need panic. Enjoy.

* * *

As usual, Eeth woke up at six in the morning. And the first thing he did after getting up was wake the rest of his mission team, starting with Lakhri.

"Force," Lakhri groaned, rolling over in bed and shielding his eyes, "go bother your padawan and let me sleep for another hour."

"We need to prepare for our mission, and my padawan has a lot of class work to do," Eeth said sternly. "We will never get all this done if we laze about."

"Sleeping until seven hardly qualifies as lazing about," Lakhri grumbled, sitting up. "Okay, I'll get ready. Now leave me alone and go torture your padawan."

And that was what Eeth did.

"Time to get up, padawan," he called, mercilessly switching on the light in her cabin.

"Argh! Master..." Raven grumbled, propping herself up on her elbows and squinting at his silhouette. She wanted badly to inform him that she didn't have classes or chores but knew this would result in one of two reactions. Either it would be an indulgent "Up now" or the more likely exasperated reprimand along the lines of "Padawan! I do not like repeating myself." Deciding to forgo the entire process, Raven nodded, dragged herself out of bed and began sifting through her bag for the least wrinkled set of workout clothes she could find.

Five minutes later, Raven wandered into the kitchen and sniggered upon catching her reflection: her hair now looked like birds had actually begun roosting in it, and her comfortable workout gear was not something she was used to seeing first thing. It was a nice change though, and the unusual differences to her morning routine only proved to make the whole thing that bit more exciting.

"Lakhri is not going to want to get off the ship," she thought upon opening their cooler. It was fully stocked and the girl's eyes widened at the massive choice they had. There was everything in here, really, everything!

Spotting a bottle of something yellow and fizzy in the side door, Raven was about to open it when she realised it was sparkling wine. Her lip curled slightly at the mental picture. Yeah, that was until a more vivid picture of Eeth or Lakhri actually catching her with it wiped the grin from her face, and she put the bottle back so fast it almost cracked upon landing.

A few minutes later, Eeth went to look for Raven in her room and, not finding her there, tracked her down in the kitchen.

"Padawan, how about taking a shower and combing your hair before gracing us with your presence?" he asked, looking her up and down disapprovingly. As usual, his own outfit was immaculate and his hair sleek and shiny.

"What's for breakfast?" Lakhri asked between two yawns, slouching into the kitchen looking hardly better than Raven.

"For the Force's sake," Eeth exclaimed, irritation clear in his voice, "I am not asking for ceremonial robes, but could you make an effort to look remotely presentable? This is not a vacation! Off to the refresher, both of you. I will take care of breakfast."

Lakhri winked at Raven. "I just wanted to test his reaction," he said, leading her back into the corridor. "Haven't been on a mission with Eeth for more than eight years, after all. It hasn't changed. Come on, I'll leave you the royal refresher as long as they aren't there yet. It's quite a sight."

"Test successful, then, I'd wager," Raven replied, equally amused and left for the refreshers with Lakhri. "Hey, why do you think he is like that? You know, wanting everyone to be presentable all the time and all; we're in hyperspace and it's just us." Raven had often wondered what made Eeth the way he was, and she thought maybe Lakhri could shed some light on it for her.

"He's just Eeth being Eeth," Lakhri said, shrugging. "He's always been that way, for as long as I've known him and, according to his master, even before."

Raven's eyebrows rose at this, and she looked over at her Jedi brother with an expression that silently urged him to go on.

"He thinks it's un-Jedilike to look like you've just stepped out of bed in front of other people. And he probably also thinks that we have work to do and shouldn't get to feel like we're on holiday," Lakhri continued. "Anyway, he really does detest having to look at people who haven't brushed their hair, so it's okay to do him a favour and freshen up a little. It might occasionally be annoying but in the end, he's asking no more than a Jedi master who is less familiar with the two of us would have done."

"I suppose," Raven agreed. The truth was, she didn't really mind either way. She was, however, very curious to know if there was more to the reason than she was already privy to. Anything else Raven might have said was cut short when Lakhri palmed the door open to reveal the royal refresher.

"Here comes," he said, making a sweeping gesture with his arm to reveal a vast and utterly luxurious refresher, complete with an immense bathtub, a spa bath, stacks of huge fluffy towels and dressing gowns and a wide array of bubble baths.

"Don't take too long, or Eeth will throw a fit," Lakhri said, winking at Raven as he turned to leave for the more mundane refresher in the corridor opposite their cabins.

"Aww, c'mon, you have to distract him for me, that's practically a swimming pool!" Raven said, and she wasn't kidding; it was like nothing she had ever seen before.

"Distract Eeth?" Lakhri said with a laugh. "Who do you think I am, Yoda? No, you'd better go ahead and take a shower."

He pointed at a large and luxurious shower stall at the far side of the room.

"You'll have time for an extended bath tonight," he added. "Eeth will give you some downtime after dinner, if my experience is anything to go by."

"You really think he will?" Raven hoped so, but she half expected that Eeth would fill her every waking moment with classwork, chores, research, workouts and the like.

"If you do a reasonably good job on your chores throughout the day," Lakhri said with a shrug. "Enjoy your shower." He smiled at her and ambled off to make himself presentable.

Raven watched him go, a slight smile on her face. Lakhri knew a lot more about Eeth than she did, and his insights were appreciated.

Therefore, twenty minutes later a clean and far more presentable padawan wandered back into the kitchen where Eeth had just finished making breakfast. Lakhri joined them barely a minute later. As usual, he ate twice as much as Eeth and Raven put together. During the meal, he and Eeth exchanged memories of their previous missions.

"I would have given my right arm to be assigned a mission like this before I was fourteen, though," Lakhri told Raven. "You are one lucky girl."

"Hmm, that's sounds weird. I'd have thought you'd be right up there for all the hardest missions, with your academic prowess and ability to use the Force, and all." Raven stated.

"Be that as it may, he was a junior padawan at the time," said Eeth. "I might have been more cautious then than I am now, not having made the experience of raising a padawan before. And, of course, I was not on the Council and thus not in any position to argue about our assignments."

This comment had Raven thinking about her own predicament. Unlike with Lakhri, Eeth had had to argue her worthiness to the Council, a Council who had put her on three months' probation. It was hardly a stellar record, and not nearly as shiny as the bits she had pieced together from Lakhri sounded. Raven said nothing, though, and instead she tried to let the feeling of inadequacy go into the Force, as Eeth had taught her.

After having cleared the breakfast table, they went to a large room that held a tactics console as well as several terminals and communication devices.

Eeth projected a map of Larivan into the center of the room and called up the information they had gathered on three terminals that surrounded it.

"You weren't kidding; it really is a marsh," Raven told Lakhri, as she studied the projection and stepped up to a terminal.

"Now, we need to figure out how to make use of the contacts we were able to identify yesterday and of the leads we have," Eeth explained to Raven. "We need a plan; we need to know where to start and how to continue, and whether to stay together or whether to split up. Do you have any ideas? How would you proceed in order to develop a viable strategy?"

Eeth's question was not unexpected given his comments the previous night, and Raven had indeed given this some thought.

"Well. I would land us close to the largest number of leads or contacts with the most information to offer and follow on from there."

Eeth nodded. "Good. Where would that be?"

"This function might help," Lakhri added, pressing a few buttons on his terminal whereupon all the places that were mentioned in their files were highlighted in different colors in the three-dimensional holographic map.

This did indeed help. "We could start here," Raven suggested, highlighting the largest cluster of colours on the terminal, causing her selection to glow on their projection. "It's the largest group, and close to the old palace." Raven looked from Eeth to Lakhri and then back again.

"Very good," Eeth said. They proceeded to go through the individual contacts within the cluster and determined those they would start with.

"Do there have to be three of us talking to each of these people?" Lakhri said. "We could split up. One of us takes Raven and the other one operates on his own. That way, we would be faster."

"Yes," Eeth said. "That would be one option. Another option would be for one or two of us to officially present themselves as the delegation who are supposed to escort the royal family, ask for police support, file complaints with various institutions and generally be as highly visible as possible while the other party does undercover work. That way, we will not have to explain away the arrival of a huge starcruiser, and the undercover operatives will be effectively shielded. It might even be possible to urge those who are responsible for the royal family's disappearance into action, which will make it much easier for us to find leads."

Lakhri scowled. He could see where this was heading. "What a brilliant plan," he said sarcastically. "Shall I take a guess who you will be expecting to be the official Jedi guy?"

"I am not expecting anything," Eeth replied calmly, giving him a reproving look. "I merely outlined an idea, and I am looking forward to your input on this. Raven, what do you think?"

What did she think? That it was good not to be the one on the receiving end of Eeth's reproving looks for a change, not that it appeared to faze Lakhri.

"Umm." She glanced down at the terminal and then over at the projection.

"Well, I think that's a good idea. Having someone making noise about the royal family could draw them out if they are hiding, and if someone has taken them, they might try to contact us to make a ransom demand. It will also take the attention off whoever is working undercover, and like you said, master, provides an explanation for the huge starcruiser," she reiterated, thinking it was a pretty good plan.

Eeth looked at Lakhri. Lakhri sighed. "Alright, it is a good plan," he admitted. "And I'm the best choice for the official part, as I'm known to some of the more important people on this planet anyway. You do the undercover part. I don't like it, but it's the most sensible choice."

"Very well," Eeth said calmly. "Raven, where do you feel you would best fit in?"

Where Raven thought she would best fit, and where Eeth and Lakhri thought she would best fit were probably going to be entirely different things, the girl thought. Yet, Raven decided to be honest. They could only say no.

"I would fit with whomever I went with. Lakhri, I could pose as your padawan and add to our presence at the palace. Master, I could also go with you and help make you look less suspicious; nobody is going to consider a man and an adolescent conspicuous enough to pay attention to, you know? If it's about what I want, well, obviously I'd rather do the undercover stuff." She gave Lakhri a sheepish expression, conveying that she didn't envy him his duty of "official Jedi guy" in the slightest, but this was about their mission, not about her fun.

"Which makes sense because you could be of much more help to Eeth," Lakhri said reasonably. "And he wants you to acquire experience. You won't get much of that if you join me. You'll just hang around to watch me fill in forms and engage in official conversation."

Raven knew that, and she let out a sigh of relief at hearing Lakhri give a valid reason.

"Besides," Eeth added, "depending on circumstances in the field, I might very well let you conduct investigations on your own. People might talk differently to an adolescent than to an unknown grown man. There are human colonists on Larivan, and most of them have been impartial in the conflict, so we might find people who are willing to tell us things. Therefore, I think it would be a good idea if you came with me. If this does not work out for some reason or turns out to be too dangerous, you can always join Lakhri and we will invent a reason for your late arrival."

"Really, you're going to let me conduct my own investigations, like, seriously, on my own?" Raven just had to clarify this comment as it was not something she had ever been allowed to do before.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "It is your mission as well as ours," he pointed out, "and if you can be useful to it, why would I not let you?"

For the same reason he usually vetoed things Raven considered herself ready for, because it was going to be new, exciting and fun, and she really wanted to do it! Raven didn't say anything of her thoughts, though, and simply looked from Eeth to Lakhri, her expression bordering on elation.

Lakhri grinned at her. He could imagine how Raven felt; he wouldn't have been any different at her age.

The three of them continued to make plans for the rest of the morning. After a brief lunch, they had a workout session in an empty cargo hold. For Raven, the day passed by quickly and she was pleased to find she felt neither bored nor claustrophobic. Well, until now, that was… because Eeth condemned Raven to doing classwork until dinner.

"There will be little time for it once we are on Larivan," he said. "I do not know how long we are going to be there, and I do not want you to fall behind in your studies. So you had better complete a large chunk of them now."

"I can help if you need me," Lakhri offered.

"I'm a Jedi, I don't wish my suffering on others," Raven said, although her expression didn't back that up. "What are you two going to do while I'm stuck doing all this classwork?" she griped, poking her datapad with a finger. The mental picture of Eeth and Lakhri playing beer pong and sparring flashed through her mind; because when you're stuck doing a mountain of classwork, anyone free of a similar task had to be living it up, in her opinion.

Lakhri shrugged. "Nothing exciting," he said. "Work out some more. Read up more on Larivan. Meditate. I'd try out some of the games in the lounge, but that might give Eeth a heart attack."

"Very funny," Eeth said in his usual dignified voice. "Would you like us to keep you company, Padawan?"

"Yes, but, you are going to let me have a break at some point during the trip, right? I mean, I actually do want to try out those games, too, you know. Besides," she pushed her datapad aside. "I don't see why I have to be the only one working constantly." Raven wasn't thrilled with the mental picture she had of Eeth and Lakhri off having fun while she was slaving away.

"You are usually not the one who comes home from Council meetings after midnight," Eeth said levelly. "It is true that you have class work to do during missions while we do not. We still intend to put our time on this ship to good use. You may try out games after dinner, when your work is done."

"Well, you don't have to work while I'm in classes all day at the Temple, either," Raven countered, clearly unamused at that analogy.

"That is absurd," said Eeth brusquely. "Of course I do."

Raven crossed her arms, disagreement written all over her face.

"So do I," Lakhri said peacefully. "Can we stop having a contest over who does the most work? Your school work needs to be done. The longer you take to get started, the less time for trying out games you will have. So come on, let's get going."

If it were a contest on who did the most work, Raven thought she would win hands down! She didn't say as much, though, and simply huffed, snatched up her datapad and followed them in.

"Let us look through the assignments your teachers gave you and divide them up into manageable pieces," Eeth proposed.

A quarter of an hour later, Raven had been provided with a list of assignments.

"You may do them wherever you like," Eeth said indulgently. "Lakhri and I are going to work out further details concerning our mission plans. I will need Lakhri's input, so it will not be quiet. If you do not mind that, you may stay with us. If you prefer to work alone, you may go to your room or the lounge."

Raven nodded and began working. It wasn't what she wanted to do, not by a long shot, but there really wasn't much of a choice here.

Two and a half hours later, the padawan was getting restless. She pushed her data pad aside and slumped her head into an elbow, content to listen in on their conversation.

Eeth tolerated this for a while before he told Raven firmly to get back to work. He and Lakhri were finished, and Lakhri decided to get one of the protocol droids to cut his hair to make him look more presentable. After he had left, Eeth turned to Raven and asked: "Would you mind if I went to the cargo hold for a bit of saber practice?"

"No, master." The pitiful look she gave him did not match the tone of her reply, nor did it reflect just how jealous and peeved she was over the fact that he was off to have a workout while she was stuck at a desk!

The padawan kept at the work for another couple of hours until finally, she was done. Standing from the table, Raven stretched and stuck her head out the door. It was almost five thirty in the afternoon, and Eeth and Lakhri were nowhere to be seen. Well, she had worked plenty hard enough for one day; it was time for a snack.

Eeth, having finished his workout, showered and dressed, wandered into the common room to check on Raven's progress at a quarter to six and found her missing. Frowning, he went looking for her and tracked her down in the kitchen. "Are you not supposed to be working?" he asked evenly, leaning against the frame of the kitchen door.

"And aren't you meant to be working out!" Raven thought, still annoyed at having spent so much time stuck staring at a datapad. She decided against saying as much and instead, simply closed the door to their cooler with her hip, a little sharper than strictly necessary.

"I'm done. For the record, I don't think it is fair that everyone else got to have a break while I have to work from breakfast until dinner each day," she told him honestly.

"Life as a Jedi is not about fairness," said Eeth decisively, "nor is it about having a right to free time. It is a life of duty, and among your duties is school. Lakhri and I might be past this stage, but we still try to put our time on the spaceship to good use, which includes improving our physical condition and many other things. Lakhri was barely fifteen when he used a particularly long spaceship flight to have a protocol droid teach him Bocce. None of us have been slacking off so far. You seem to labour under the misconception that any time a Jedi does not spend on school work is free time. It is not."

"Well, my duties suck compared to yours and Lakhri's. You get to go work out, talk about our missions and have haircuts while I'm stuck doing classwork for hours on end."

"Since I have already studied starship astrophysics," Eeth replied coolly, "and you have not, we can hardly swap."

Far from placated, but resigned to the fact that she was not going to get anywhere by continuing to argue her point, Raven sighed and nodded.

"Yes, master." Raven really was trying to make a success out of this mission and pissing Eeth off, although satisfying in the moment, was not conducive to that goal … or her comfort.

"Alright then," Eeth said. "You have got forty-five minutes left until dinner. You are free to explore the ship, play games or do whatever else you like. Lakhri should be around as well. The last time I looked, he was done getting his hair cut and was chatting with the protocol droid."

"Yeah!" Raven cheered at being given the small bit of freedom. She downed her juice and was about to take off to find Lakhri and con him into playing holo games when a thought occurred to her.

"Hey, do you want to play holo games with me? They're interactive, you know? We get to fight, fly, swim, run, ride and just about anything you can imagine."

Eeth thought he could have seen it coming. "I am not all that fond of hologames," he admitted. "I prefer to do the real thing. But if it is important to you, we could play one."

Well, it wasn't important, per se. But did she want to see it anyway? Absolutely!

"Think of it like this: you won't let me fly, ride or drive anything real, so it's kind of educational. Besides, in this first one, you get to go nuts fighting me and I won't die, at least not for real," she said and took off for the common room, praying Lakhri would be around to come and join in.

It took the padawan a little while to figure out how to get the game running, but soon enough two holographic figures appeared in the center of the room looking ready to kill each other. "So, this is a hand to hand combat simulator, me versus you," she explained, taking her spot across the room opposite Eeth. This had the two holographic figures facing off in the middle. "Ready?"

"Wait a moment," Eeth said, brow furrowed. "Why would we not just do hand-to-hand combat in person? I mean, what is the difference in the hologame?"

Raven just stared at him, and then she realised that the man was actually serious.

"Master, if you punch me for real, I'm probably going to die," she stated incredulously, and then, realising he didn't have a clue, decided to show him.

"Alright. So, I've entered your settings already. See the two holographic figures facing each other in the center of the room? That's you and me. I'm the good looking one." Raven had given Eeth a Lakaru avatar thinking it rather amusing. "Watch what happens when I throw a punch at you." Raven faced Eeth and executed a powerful jab cross, uppercut combination, her holographic avatar emulating it and sending Eeth's Lakaru flying into the wall. "You see?"

"But how are you going to learn to avoid my punches if nothing really happens to you?" Eeth asked. "So, instead of flying into a wall, I can just punch you back and you go flying into a wall, only not really? Or do those settings you mentioned imply that you would not go flying into a wall?"

"Master, you're totally killing the element of fun here," Raven replied, although her lip was curling into an amused smile despite this. "Okay, so, you only went flying into the wall because you didn't block or move out of the way. If you just stand there and get punched in the face, the system will emulate what would happen in reality. And no, you can't just punch me back because you just hit a wall, slid down it and landed on your head. You have to wait until your avatar" – she pointed to the holographic Lakaru who was currently getting back on his feet – "gets up again before you can attack me. The settings I entered were just body measurements so the system can track your movements properly," she explained patiently.

Eeth decided that, as pointless as this seemed to him, he would play along for a while because his padawan apparently thought that this was an enjoyable activity. So he let decades of Jedi reflexes kick in, dodged Raven's next attack neatly and pulled her legs out from under her… well, not really, but it did work on her avatar holoprojection. For good measure, he stepped the avatar Raven in the face, interested to see what would happen.

Raven was almost on her feet again, which usually took a few seconds, when Eeth stepped on her face and the words 'FATALITY' flashed across her character's head.

"Have I won now?" Eeth asked politely.

"Aww, master, that's just brutal!" Raven exclaimed as their two holographic avatars began a slow-motion replay of Raven's unfortunate demise. Her head squashed, an eyeball popping in the process, and blood spurted out its nose. It was freaking awesome! Or so Raven's expression said.

Thirty seconds later she had resurrected from death and was ready to go at it again. Eeth was going down now. Rushing forward, she threw out a roundhouse, followed by a back kick. Then Raven did something she would only do in holographic fights; she kicked him in the balls.

Eeth did what he would have done in a real-life situation, provided that he wanted to kill his opponent, which he usually did not! He dodged the first attack, blocked the second and used the third to grab Raven's leg and smash her against the wall… figuratively speaking.

The two blocks worked well. However, the game did not know the technique Eeth was trying to replicate, so rather than being smashed against the wall by her leg, she was sent flying backwards. Regardless, the results were no less spectacular! Raven's avatar hit the wall upside-down so hard that a cracking noise was actually added to the simulation, and then she did a header into the flooring. Raven squinted as the sound effects of her neck breaking upon hitting the floor coincided with the visuals.

"That. Was! FREAKIN' awesome!" Raven wooted, jumping up and down. Clearly, she was having an absolute ball with all the new ways Eeth was coming up with to wipe her out.

"I do not see why I cannot use a lightsaber," Eeth commented neutrally. "It would be a much more elegant way to kill you repeatedly. Or is being killed in a hologame funnier if it is done without weapons?"

"It won't register your weapon because this simulation is for hand-to-hand. You can't take a lightsaber into Master Rool's class either, although…" Raven feigned contemplation only to remember what the last bout of creativity in that class had cost her. "Uh, no, forget it. Just trust me, it's better killing each other without weapons in this game," she said as her screen character resurrected itself once again.

This time the padawan was going for broke. The second the fight began, Raven dove forward, grabbing Eeth around the waist and made to drive him clean through their wall.

Eeth's instinctive reaction was to just use his superior strength and body mass in order to stay rooted to the spot and let Raven fruitlessly exert herself, but of course the game did not react to this tactic as planned, and before he had figured that out, his character had already been smashed into the wall.

Raven grinned as Eeth's avatar made some gurgling noises, closely followed by a satisfying crunch as his spine crushed, and vomit began pouring from his nose and mouth.

"Well, this is not what would have happened in real life at all," Eeth commented, clearly dissatisfied with this realisation.

"Who cares? That was awesome! I totally wasted you," Raven replied as the game replayed his demise. Their scores flashed above their avatar's heads, 2/1, and Eeth's Lakaru began taunting Raven's avatar, shaking its fists victoriously at it.

"Thanks for playing with me," Raven said, even as her avatar was being carted off by a hover-stretcher. The girl was ecstatic that he had joined in, but didn't plan to torture him all night.

At that moment, Lakhri entered in search of the two. "What, she got you to play that game?" he asked incredulously. "You could at least have let her win."

"Why?" asked Eeth. "I thought the point of the game is to beat one's opponent."

Lakhri rolled his eyes.

"He did a fatality on the first fight," Raven praised Eeth's efforts as Lakhri sprang him.

"Yeah, but I can't believe you actually played. You never did with me," claimed Lakhri.

"Yes, you were definitely most mistreated," Eeth remarked wryly, turning to leave. "I am going to take care of dinner. Meet me in the kitchen in twenty minutes."

Lakhri grinned at Raven. "He's embarrassed," he told her in a stage whisper. "That's why he's retreating."

Eeth disappeared into the corridor without giving a sign that he had heard Lakhri's words.

Raven grinned at the exchange and wondered, not for the first time, how bad Eeth must have been when Lakhri was his padawan.

"I actually came because I wanted to introduce you to 5JPL, the protocol droid," Lakhri told Raven. "My personal motto on missions is, 'Always talk to the protocol droids', especially when on starships with nothing else to do. They have often been around for decades or even centuries, they never sleep, nothing escapes them, and they know all sorts of things. Sometimes you can obtain information that's important to your mission, and sometimes you can just learn stuff that might or might not turn out to be useful later on. But you always learn something, and it's fun to talk to them. – Of course Eeth doesn't, seeing as he despises small talk, so I had to figure that one out on my own," Lakhri added with a grin.

"Hello 5JPL, are you responsible for giving knight Lakhri such a dignified haircut?" Raven asked politely, enjoying the opportunity to tease her Jedi brother over looking so neat and proper.

5JPL bowed, clearly pleased.

"It is a pleasure to serve," he said in the metallic voice typical of protocol droids. "Knight Lakhri requested a haircut that is suitable for diplomatic functions, and I fulfilled his request to the best of my ability. How may I be of service to you, young padawan?"

Raven thought about that for a moment. Finally, an idea hit her. "What are you like at math homework and distraction tactics?"

Lakhri roared with laughter. "Forget about it," he said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "If Eeth finds out, you are in for it, and I am speaking out of experience. And he WILL find out because protocol droids suck at distraction techniques. They are not programmed to lie unless you order them to tell a specific lie, but even that they find impossible to get right."

"Knight Lakhri is correct," 5JPL said with an air of relief. "However, I will be happy to assist you with anything involving foreign languages or retrieving information from the archives or the functions of this ship. I have also been programmed to help arrange 2.5 million styles of ceremonial dresses and robes. Furthermore, I know how to run baths suitable for the needs of 4.000.000 species and…"

"Thank you, that's fantastic," Lakhri said, putting his hand on the droid's forearm. "I know you have about a billion functions, and if you tell us about all of them, we are going to miss dinner. Eeth would not like that."

"Neither would you," Raven added knowingly as Lakhri was renowned for his hollow legs, and insatiable appetite. "Alright, so you can't do my work for me, pity. The amount of stuff Eeth is making me do is insane. I don't even have to do this much at the Temple," she grumbled. Raven wasn't entirely sure Lakhri would sympathise with her. After all, he probably had it worse as a padawan, she assumed.

"Well, you won't have to do any of it during the actual mission," Lakhri said with a shrug, "so it stands to reason that there's more school stuff to do during the trip. I'll see if we can rearrange your schedule tomorrow, at least. Anyway. If you need to know anything about this ship or want to learn a foreign language or need a translation, you speak to 5JPL."

"I will be happy to assist with any of my numerous functions," 5JPL said enthusiastically, bowing again.

"Thanks," Lakhri said with a smile. "And now excuse us. We need to have dinner."

When they had left the droid, he told Raven in an undertone: "Think about taking him up on his offer about a bath. Once the royals are on board, he won't have time for you. Royals are like that. If they don't need help with their hairstyle, it's their dress or makeup."

Although Raven wasn't allergic to luxury like her master, she was not exactly accustomed to it either. The idea of someone giving her a 'royal bath' kinda made her feel guilty. Then again, when would an opportunity like this present itself again? Probably not for a very long time. Yes, for the sake of experience she would have to try it out.

"Okay, I will ask him, but don't you want to try out the good bathroom tonight?" she asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Oh, I've already had the pleasure on several missions," Lakhri said. "I'll let you enjoy it if you like."

"Enjoy what?" Eeth asked, setting several bowls of steaming dishes onto the table.

"The royal bath," Lakhri said.

Eeth snorted disdainfully.

"I honestly think he has never tried one of those," Lakhri told Raven with a grin while washing his hands in the sink.

"Of course I have not," Eeth said with dignity, sitting down at the table.

"Why not?" Raven asked. She was baiting him, just a little bit.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Do I look like a person who soaks in bathtubs?" he asked pointedly.

"No," said Lakhri. "But there's a first time for everything. Besides, you want to work undercover, don't you? Taking a royal bath would be a fantastic disguise."

Eeth merely snorted again and ladled some rice onto Raven's plate.

"You know he has a point there, mjaster," Raven observed, nodding in thanks for the rice.

"No, thank you," Eeth said in his usual dignified manner, offering Raven the vegetables. "I am fine with taking showers."

When they had started eating, he told Raven: "By the way, Lakhri's advice about talking to the droids is sound. He has a special talent for pulling useful information out of just about every kind of being, mechanical or not. Shortly before he was knighted, we managed to bring down a gang of pirates by knowing hiding places in a starship that the repair droids had pointed out to us by way of the protocol droids' translation. Talking to beings and being able to gain their trust is a skill well worth having, and one that Lakhri can teach you far better than I ever could."

"Oh, you can always learn," Lakhri said innocently. "You are not that old yet."

Eeth did not dignify that with a reply. He never ceased to be amazed at the effortless ease with which Lakhri initiated lively conversations with each and every droid, Gungan or even Dug they happened to come across, and he was completely aware of the fact that this was a talent he did not possess in the least.

"I might, if I didn't already have every waking moment occupied with classwork and other duties," Raven thought, but given she had vowed to do better on this mission, she decided to keep it to herself and focus on the positive. "Tell me about the last mission you went on together?" Raven asked. It was fun getting to see this side of Eeth, and in the process she was getting to know Lakhri better, too.

"Must have been the undercover thing on Corellia," Lakhri said. "We were trying to infiltrate a ring of arms dealers."

"That was our second last mission," said Eeth. "The last was the fact-finding mission on Adnor."

"You sure?" asked Lakhri, frowning.

"Of course I am sure," said Eeth severely.

Lakhri shrugged. "Well, then it was Adnor," he said. "Eeth is always right."

"I am not," said Eeth. "I merely have a good memory."

"Adnor was boring, anyway," said Lakhri. "We were expected to find out about Force-sensitive Adnorians because one of them had been discovered and brought to the Temple but it turned out there weren't any others. The undercover mission on Corellia was much more interesting."

The conversation continued, with Eeth and Lakhri exchanging memories and Raven asking questions. Dinner was an unusually chatty affair, far more than it typically was when it was just herself and Eeth, that was for sure. The presence of Lakhri was doing them all good.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to Lakhri's intervention, the remaining four days of travel to Larivan were far less classwork-intensive for Raven. Eeth had devised a schedule that meant her class work was broken up into three two-hour allotments, with activities, workouts and respites scattered between to break up the monotony. It worked wonders! Eeth and Lakhri had also taken it in turns to spend some of her classwork sessions helping her out. Lakhri was particularly good at matching exciting stories of past missions to the facts she was learning, and Eeth excelled at astrophysics – so much so that at one stage, Raven suggested he quit the Council and take over from her boring Temple teacher.

Eeth and Lakhri had been correct about the protocol droid, too. 5JPL was a bottomless pit of information that Raven took advantage of. She had him teaching her basic phrases in Larn, the native language of Larivan, which she did quite well in.

Eeth continued to indulge her by participating in ONE game each night. Thus, the padawan had practically rolled with laughter as her patient master peddled giant bubble choppers through obstacle courses, drove tanks through minefields, obliterated herself and Lakhri in ways the girl hadn't known possible playing the hand-to-hand combat game, and swam through sando-infested waters on Naboo.

All in all, by the time they were due to exit hyperspace on the final day, Raven had truly enjoyed her time on the cruiser and felt a little more confident in her ability to succeed in the mission ahead.

"Guess what! I've finished all of my assignments, PLUS, the extra one from 5JPL on Larn," she announced happily as she wandered in to find Eeth and Lakhri were pulling them from hyperspace.

Eeth gave her a rare broad smile as he turned briefly from the controls.

"Yes, padawan, and I am very pleased with the work you did. Five days of hard work without a single complaint are more than I could have expected from you. Once we are back on Coruscant, I will grant you a free day on which you can choose what to do."

"A whole free day! Are you serious?" she asked rhetorically, because Eeth never made empty statements. She was busy thinking up a dream day at Tree World while their ship jolted in a way that signified they had exited hyperspace.

Eeth merely gave her a pointed look at that superfluous question and turned back to the controls. He told Lakhri, "I will ask for clearance from Larivan's main space port in Lossola. That is where Raven and I are going to start our work. Any other landing site would look odd when you are supposed to arrive in an official function. Raven and I will shed our Jedi attire and pose as your pilots. Nobody will care about those."

When he had received clearance, he let Lakhri do the navigation and told Raven to get dressed in civilian clothes.

"Alright, master," Raven replied and went to do as told.

She was able to dress quite quickly – Eeth had made sure that all of this was organised well before this point, after all – and emerged shortly after. Raven was clad in a tan pair of cargo pants and a cream-coloured singlet with a white overshirt that she left unbuttoned and open at the front. She was ready!

"One Republican trader's apprentice, reporting for duty," she said, her lightsaber still in her hand as that was proving difficult to disguise.

Eeth handed Raven a leather bag identical to one he had attached to his own belt.

"Attach this to your utility belt and pull it over your lightsaber," he advised her. "It will look like a nondescript bag that might contain money or tools. Besides, few people on Larivan will ever have seen a lightsaber. We will be dressed in raincoats most of the time anyway."

He led her back to the cockpit and pointed to the front window which showed nothing but the thick grey clouds they were just crossing.

"Are you ready, 'official Jedi guy'?" Raven teased Lakhri as they pierced the cloud layer.

Lakhri grimaced. "Not really, but that hardly matters, does it?" he said. He switched seats with Eeth, who landed the ship on Lossola's main space port a few minutes later in pouring rain. Lakhri donned his rainproof attire, grabbed his bag and hit the button to open the hatch.

"We will stay here and leave inconspicuously a little while later," Eeth said in a low voice. "We will stay in touch, Lakhri. Keep us informed on everything you hear."

"Sure," Lakhri said, giving both of them a brief smile. "See you soon."

At this point, the ramp had opened sufficiently for outsiders to look in, and Eeth pulled Raven back into a side corridor while Lakhri took on an official demeanour.

He strode forward and was welcomed by a small delegation of administrators. As they took him across the field towards the exit, they did not seem to mind the pouring rain at all, much in contrast to Lakhri.

"He makes a pretty good official Jedi guy if you ask me," Raven said quietly to Eeth. She desperately wanted to watch what was going on, but guessed that it might look strange if some weird kid was gawking out at them.

"He is very competent," Eeth said matter-of-factly. "I know he will do his job well."

He pulled up the ramp and took Raven to the cockpit where he set the controls for a password-protected locking mechanism and made Raven remember the password. He gave 5JPL instructions for the time of their absence and then asked Raven to fetch her bag and join him at a smaller service ramp at the back of the ship. In the meanwhile, he got dressed in his civilian clothes. He tied his long hair into a knot at the back of his head and covered it with a large rainproof hat, which altered his appearance quite drastically.

Raven did as bade. When Eeth joined her at the service ramp, the padawan did a double take. This was what Eeth would look like if he were human like her, meaning, without his head of horns. She said nothing, or at least she tried to look as if his appearance had not given her cause to stare.

"We will take a shuttle to the commercial district of Lossola and ask the driver for a cheap hotel," Eeth told Raven, ignoring the look of surprise that he had noticed on her face. "Our main work will begin tomorrow. Ready to face the rain?"

"Yes, master. Ready," Raven replied, twisting her hair in a similar fashion to Eeth's and covering it with a backwards facing cap. She had, of course, removed her braid at Eeth's request earlier, as they were posing as a Republican trader and his apprentice.

Eeth nodded and opened the ramp. "Then come." He stepped forward into the rain that was coming down in sheets.

Nodding, Raven flipped the rain hood up and followed him out the back of their ship onto the tarmac. The good thing about the rain, Raven noted, was that almost everyone was wearing large rain jackets with hoods, so it was very easy to blend in as they made their way to the shuttle platform.

The parts of Lossola that they saw from the speeder was everything you would expect from the commercial area of a city, that is: built up, busy and, in true Larivan style, muggy and wet! Their driver was full of useful information, not that Raven risked asking any questions just yet. In fact, she remained pretty much silent since leaving their shuttle, having decided to observe her master for a while first.

It did not take long to reach the commercial district. The driver dropped them at the top end of a street full of dodgy-looking accommodations.

"Well, Eeth has requested cheap, and this is most definitely cheap!" thought Raven, following her master to the covered sidewalk and flipping back her hood to blend in with those walking by. Making sure to keep close as they moved along the street, the padawan kept an eye out for something that looked like it might work for them. She stopped mid-stride upon spotting a standard block of rooms on the opposite side.

"What about there?" Raven suggested, nodding towards the adjacent building. It was the only structure they'd passed so far that had an undercover rooftop area that would give them what passed as a 'clear' view here, of their surroundings. She did not know if this would be a factor of importance or not, but decided it was time to attempt adding some input to their journey, lest Eeth assume she was mindlessly following him and not paying attention.

Eeth had noticed the building and thought it looked suitable. He nodded.

"We will continue to the end of the street," he said. "If we do not find anything better, we will ask for a room there."

"Alright," Raven agreed. She was feeling uncomfortable and was keen to wring out her socks at the first available opportunity.

Eeth, too, was already soaked through, despite his waterproof coat. The moisture seemed to permeate everything. The natives did not seem to mind, but he did, much as he did not let it show.

A young man suddenly appeared at Raven's side and grinned at her. "New to the city, miss?" he asked. "Need a guide?" He completely ignored the severe look that Eeth gave him.

Raven sensed the slight shift in Eeth's Force presence before she noticed the look on his face, or the young man who had appeared at her side.

"A guide? Hmm, sure, that might come in handy. Would you give me your details so I can contact you when we are settled in?" she suggested politely, accepting what she suspected was this man's version of a business card and slipping it into her pocket.

"Should you ever be able to give your dad the slip," the young man said, winking at Raven, "come and find me in the Golden Gundark. The best pub in town. Over there. Oh, and one word of free advice: Get yourselves a few sets of RainTeX. They don't soak up water like other textiles do. Everyone wears them around here. Have a nice day!" He flashed her a quick grin, pointed at a shop window and disappeared in the crowd.

"Advice is always free," Raven thought, but what had her attention was the fact that this man thought her old enough to visit pubs unchaperoned! Raven hid all of this well. She simply inclined her head politely and looked at the shop the man had indicated. The clothes it sold seemed to be made of a silk-like material, and looking around, she noticed that practically everybody was wearing them.

Eeth quickly weighed the benefits of clothing that stayed dry against the benefits of being recognisable as "foreign traders". Dry clothes far outweighed the latter option. Besides, any foreign trader who was not completely masochistic would not want to walk around the place soaking wet, he reasoned.

A quarter of an hour later, they checked in at the hostel that Raven had pointed out, laden with their own luggage and several bags of RainTeX clothing, including water-repellent socks and underwear.

"Not my favorite kind of weather," said Eeth, entering their dingy room and dropping his bags. "Well, at least the rain is not cold."

He grabbed a towel and started drying off his hair.

"Eww! I, umm, wouldn't actually risk sitting on that toilet if I were you... " Raven advised, casting a disapproving glance around. At least they appeared to have clean sheets on their beds which was all she could hope for given the price they paid. Claiming the single bed by their only window, she threw her bag onto a chair and sat on the floor, keen to get rid of her boots and squelchy socks.

A few minutes later, Raven pulled the card from her discarded pants pocket and eyed it curiously. "Do you think it would be worth checking this out? He seemed to be helpful and maybe, if asked the right questions, he might know something about the royal family?" she purposed, holding the man's business card between two fingers, keen to check out the pub in any case.

Eeth shrugged. "I would guess he was more interested in a kiss than in anything else," Eeth commented drily. "And before you ask: Do not even think about it."

"Really, a kiss? I didn't think he was your type," she chuckled. Raven was just reaching the stage where earning the attention of a boy was no longer totally mortifying, and she approached the whole thing with mild curiosity as opposed to utter horror and disgust.

"Very funny," Eeth answered stiffly, for reasons that he was not going to tell Raven about. "Let us head for a tavern and eat something."

As they found out when they had dinner in a cheap and reasonably clean tavern, the whereabouts of the royal family were the talk of the city, and NOT asking questions about it would have been more suspicious than anything else. Which was extremely convenient, of course. Most of what was talked about was clearly in the realm of speculation and unfounded gossip, but Eeth committed it to his memory nevertheless.

Raven was also relieved to hear everyone talking about the disappearance of the royal family, and tried hard to remember the details, but there were just so many unanswered questions. No one seemed to have a clue, yet everyone had a theory: taken into the tribal areas and left for dead, headhunted by antiroyalists, flown off-planet, and someone was even suggesting they were still in the city, but just heavily disguised and given new identities.

"Perhaps we should take a look around, you know, separate?" Raven suggested, pushing her plate aside for the moment; she was eager to get moving and wanted it to all happen right now.

"Tomorrow," Eeth replied. "We still have several hours of light left… or what counts as light around here," he added, gesturing towards the uniform grey outside. "We will explore the city and become familiar with public transport and other services tonight. When I am convinced that you will find your way back to our hostel without difficulties, we may split up."

"Yes, master," Raven replied. The idea of splitting up was utterly thrilling for the Temple-raised padawan, it really was!

Half an hour later, the two began exploring the streets and mentally plotting out locations of public shuttle stops and the like. Raven had grabbed a couple of street maps and noted that the layout of this section resembled a large grid, surrounded by two ring roads.

"Where are we meeting our first contact?" she asked as they wandered back towards their hostel.

"I would like to start with the head of the merchants' guild", Eeth replied. "They have been very active in ending the civil war and promoting membership in the Republic, as they are hoping for an upswing in trade. The merchants are a less important force than the heads of the seafaring corporations who have ownership of the valuable mineral deposits in the deep sea, but they are close by. Most of our contacts in this city are merchants; the rest are officials, and Lakhri will deal with those."

That sounded logical to Raven.

"Gee, no wonder Lakrhi was so 'eager' to take on the official Jedi guy role," Raven observed upon getting a better idea of the stuff he would actually be enduring. Suddenly she felt a twinge of guilt for having teased him, especially given the man was constantly offering his help with all the boring stuff she had to put up with.

"The head of the merchant's guild? That would beeeeeee," Raven squinted her eyes shut tightly and tried to recall the information. "Therkain Dartan," she said, snapping her fingers and rummaged around in her pocket for the notes she had prepared with 5JPL's help. "She has listed two contact addresses. One quite close to our hostel here in Lossola, and another is in the outskirts. It's still technically Lossola but it's right on the border." Raven was trying to be helpful, but the reality was that Eeth probably knew everything she was telling him.

"The one near our hostel is her office," Eeth replied. "The other address is her home address, and as we do not know her at all, we will not intrude on her privacy unless it is urgent. We will present ourselves to her office tomorrow morning. What we can do now is roam a few pubs that are popular with weapons merchants. Those are usually royalists, as the royal family was quite strongly involved both in the civil war and the weapons trade."

He pointed at a neon-lit establishment at the opposite side of the street. "This one, for example," he said, the expression on his face making quite clear that hanging out in pubs was not his favorite pastime.

Nodding an understanding, Raven followed his gaze to the neon sign opposite and eyed it enthusiastically. This might not be Eeth's favourite pastime, but for his young apprentice, it was a first and she was barely hiding her excitement.

"Do you think they'll let me in?" she asked as they crossed the road together and entered the establishment. On Coruscant, the age restriction for such premises was eighteen, yet she knew that planets had different laws.

"The Outer Rim planets rarely have age restrictions," said Eeth. "You will not have alcohol, though."

Raven nodded, committing that bit of information to memory. She scanned the people here, hoping to find a group of working-class types who had brought their kids along for a meal or something, but was unable to spot anyone who didn't look, well, old … which to a twelve-year-old included anyone over eighteen.

"It might still be a little early for the merchants and their apprentices to come in," Eeth said. "The shops have not closed yet, and when they have, they need to clean up. We can order a drink at the bar and see who is here and what they are talking about."

They soon found out that at this time of the evening, it was mostly shop employees and shoppers who were having a late dinner or a drink before turning in. They talked to a few people about the goings-on in the Republic and on the Outer Rim, but heard nothing of importance. Eeth was right, however; the place soon started to fill up with people of all ages from about fourteen to eighty.

Apart from the occasional comment here and there, Raven remained relatively quiet during their conversations. However, she was keeping an eye out for anyone eavesdropping as she figured they might be a good place to start.

About half an hour into their next conversation, Raven noticed a man and two teenagers sitting by themselves. None of them were talking much, but they all seemed to be discreetly focusing on something. Following their gaze, the padawan zeroed in on a conversation between two unremarkable-looking men, but the place was far too noisy to make out actual words. It was not difficult to slide from her chair unnoticed; the people Eeth were currently engaging had barely noticed she was there to begin with, so if she did not ask to be excused, she doubted they would even notice. Eeth, on the other hand, would most certainly notice. So, the moment she had found an inconspicuous place to listen in on the men, she met his eye briefly.

Eeth returned Raven's look and gave her a slight nod. As long as she did not leave the premises or started a pub fight, he welcomed her initiative.

Starting a pub brawl was, of course, the last thing Raven intended to do, but if anyone asked, she would say Eeth had his reasons for being cautious when it came to some of her more inventive ways of thinking…

"I'm telling you, that's what I heard him say: 'It's all being taken care of' and that 'no one in their right mind would suspect a bunch of toffee-nosed prats to shack up in a joint like this,' the blonde man explained.

"Look, I believe you, but I ain't the one you have to convince. If you think you know something worth saying, you should go speak to that Jedi making a pain of himself at the palace," his friend replied.

Raven had only caught the very end of their conversation, and for all she knew it was probably just more theories, but she decided to hang around just in case they said any more.

While Eeth had an eye on Raven, he was having quite a constructive conversation with a couple of merchants who seemed to be concerned that their opportunities for illegal trade would diminish drastically when the planet became a member of the Republic. Being something of an authority on illegal trade, even though his job usually was to prevent it, Eeth could ease their worries. This quickly gained their trust, and steering the conversation to the ubiquitous topic of the royal family's whereabouts was easy.

"Someone took out all the palace guards right before they disappeared," a middle-aged woman with a catlike face said. "They couldn't have done that with legal weapons. I'd bet my ass the arms smugglers are behind it."

"Yeah," her companion, a red-nosed chubby man, agreed. "And it's quite suspicious that most of the traffic to the Eastern islands seems to have been suddenly cancelled. Just where the arms dealers used to have their stores."

"Don't be ridiculous," a young man, obviously the woman's apprentice, interjected. "Can you imagine that stuck-up lot hiding on one of those rocks in the sea?"

"Not really," the man admitted. "But wherever they are, they must be well-hidden."

At that moment, the traders' meals arrived and they switched the topic of conversation, starting to talk about the day's affairs. Eeth said goodbye to them and stepped up behind Raven.

"Ready to leave?" he asked casually.

"Definitely," Raven replied, since she couldn't bear another second of the men and their fishing stories. The way they caught and killed sounded barbaric to her, yet, she ate fish herself. This caused a moment of confusion that led to an even longer moment of introspection. Eventually, she settled on saying, once they were well out of hearing range, "Please, never make me go fishing. It sounds abhorrently cruel and, if nothing else, I may just throw myself overboard from the boredom.".

"Well, if people keep talking about the Eastern islands, some fishing might be in your very near future," Eeth replied wryly. "Did you hear anything useful?"

"I did," she replied, then quietly summed up all that she had overheard, including her twenty-minute introduction into the horror that was commercial fishing.

"It seems like everyone has something to say or a theory on what happened, so how are we supposed to choose what is worth following up, and what is a dead end?" she stated more than asked, an edge of irritation creeping into her tone as she scuffed at the pavement with the toe of her boot. Raven was impatient; she wanted to get a lead right away, even though logically she knew that was probably not going to happen.

"We will wait and gather more information," Eeth replied calmly while leading her back to the hotel. "Give it a few days, and it will become much clearer what might be a clue and what is worthless gossip. Lakhri might also find out things. We will almost certainly be able to narrow down the options in the course of the next few days. If we are lucky, we will identify the definite or probable location of the royal family, but even if we do not, we will certainly hear about a number of places that will be worth investigating. The Eastern islands seem to be such a place. One of us ought to find out more about the cancellation of traffic to these islands, which was mentioned by one of the people I talked to. If that is true, it is quite suspicious. Be sure to ask about it if you meet someone who seems to know the place. Just tell them you are interested in 'certain kinds of trade', and people will understand."

"I will," agreed Raven, feeling very important at being included so much on this mission, but trying hard not to show it.

When they returned to their hostel, Raven sat on her bed while Eeth contacted Lakhri.

Lakhri told them the same thing they had gathered from their investigations: a lot of rumours, little solid information.

"The most likely theories I have heard involve the rainforest highlands to the north and the Eastern islands," he said.

"I agree," Eeth replied. " Someone told me that traffic to the Eastern islands was interrupted. See if you can find out anything about that, but be discreet."

"Of course I will," Lakhri said, amused. "I am not a novice, Eeth. Anyway, we'll talk again tomorrow. Good night!"

"Good night," said Eeth. He terminated the connection, turned to Raven and said, "And now, we will both get some sleep. We will stay in the city one or two more days. If this does not provide conclusive information, we will move on."

"But," Raven said, holding up a finger to stave off his idea of sleeping. "If Lakhri says the most likely theories point to the Eastern islands, why would we bother sticking around to collect more information?"

"Because he did not say that," Eeth replied firmly. "He said the rainforest regions OR the islands seem to be the most likely places at present. These are two options already, and we have not been here long enough to exclude other places. Besides, these places are hard to reach and it would be rather suspicious for us to go there, so we will only do that when we know there is a reasonable chance that we are going to find something there, preferably the royal family. Patience, padawan. A few days of investigation will not hurt."

Raven flopped back on to her bed and stared up at a moldy ceiling.

"I guess looking around some more won't be so bad. It's not like the royal family want to leave anyway. I wonder if they really are as pompous as people make out," she mused, thinking how curious it would be to watch them interact with her luxury-hating, no-nonsense master, not to mention, Lakhri.

"You should not be prejudiced," Eeth replied mildly while changing into a set of pajamas. "I concede that it is likely there was a reason why people here voted against monarchy. The members of the royal family are not going to be all alike, though. They include children and youths. It is likely that you will get to interact with them quite a bit when we find them." Failure to find them was not on his agenda!

Raven nodded and pushed up so that she was seated on her bed, cross-legged. She watched him get ready for bed, but felt far from ready herself.

"Can I go and check out the city from the roof?" she asked, rotating a map she had taken from her upended pack to find north.

Eeth pondered her request for a moment. He had procured this mission so Raven could gain some experience; it would hardly do to keep hovering over her. Thus, he nodded.

"Alright, but only for five minutes," he said. "We still need to perform our evening meditation. There might not always be an opportunity for it, but as long as there is, we will use it."

Surprised that Eeth was going to allow it, Raven wasn't about to waste a single second of those five minutes and she sprang to her feet, taking off out the door in a flash.

As it turned out, five minutes wasn't very long at all. She had just managed to locate their position and map out a basic course for an independent search when she spotted the two men she had been eavesdropping on that evening and ducked down to listen as they walked beneath.

"Look, if that little Jedi guy scares you, just go and confront Dartan yourself. If she denies it, go to the Jedi, simple," one said to the other before heading into the Golden Gundark. Raven did not know what to make of that, but given the amount of garbage they had been hearing, she doubted it would be anything of significance and took off down the stairs to their room.

Throwing open the door, Raven practically sprang inside, eager to share what she had overheard. Unfortunately for the excited padawan, Eeth was already kneeling and meditating, and so she tried to curb her enthusiasm and joined him.

When the two linked, Eeth immediately sensed that Raven had something to tell him.

"What is it, padawan?" he asked quietly.

"I saw those men from the pub again. They were talking about being scared of 'a little Jedi guy' and confronting Dartan," she answered, surprisingly managing to keep her eyes closed and concentration on their link. Raven conveyed their entire conversation verbatim as she had overheard it, then shot him the mental equivalent of a shrug. "Maybe it is nothing, but it was kinda amusing to hear them refer to Lakhri as 'that little Jedi guy'," she said, unable to keep the grin from her face. "Apparently, he's doing a good job of being conspicuous."

"Dartan?" Eeth asked in surprise, entirely omitting the part about 'the little Jedi guy' because, having been Lakhri's master, he was very much used to comments of this kind. He interrupted the meditation for the moment.

"Dartan," he repeated slowly. "Thatis interesting. I would have thought she had an interest in getting rid of the royal family. It is hard to say what that remark pointed to, but it must have something to do with Lakhri's presence, and thus, with the royal family. So Dartan must know something unless these men are deluded."

He pondered this for a moment longer. "Well, we are going to see Dartan tomorrow anyway," he said. "And I suppose Lakhri will speak to her as well. Bearing in mind that we think she might know something, we will be as persistent as we can be without blowing our cover. I will also send Lakhri a message. Thank you, padawan. That might be a valuable lead."

Despite trying to accept his praise with humility, Raven couldn't stop the small smile that crept forth at receiving it.

That evening Raven fell asleep easily, despite her excitement! … That was until about four in the morning, when she woke to the sounds of shouting right below her window.

Apparently, someone was angry at someone else for allowing another person to drive his girlfriend home without his knowledge. Raven scrubbed at her eyes, got up on her knees and slid the window open just wide enough to stick her head out. There was a small group of humanoids below; all appeared to be intoxicated and having trouble standing without holding onto posts. One of the bigger men was still swilling something from what looked like a wine bottle, while the others continued to argue over the missing girlfriend. Snickering, she entertained the idea of dropping some sort of projectile onto the drunken mob, but unfortunately had nothing she was willing to lose on their account.

"Padawan, go back to bed," Eeth murmured from his bed. It was far too early to get up, and they had a long day ahead. There was no point in losing sleep when they did not have to.

Raven jumped at Eeth's voice, cracking her head on the window frame.

"Ow!" she complained, shooting him an irritated expression before shutting the window and lying back down.

Eeth was, of course, completely oblivious of the irritated expression since he had his eyes closed.

"Be mindful of your surroundings, padawan," he said quietly. "Judging from your usual reaction when I wake you, I would expect you to be happy about any opportunity for getting to sleep in. There will be no point in starting our work early. Nobody will want to speak to us before ten or so. So try to get some more sleep."

"Be mindful of your surroundings. Get some more sleep," she quietly mocked, rubbing at the back of her head. How anyone could sleep with all the racket she did not know, but it wasn't like there were many options.

"Do not be insolent," Eeth said sternly, opening his eyes for a moment. He saw Raven rubbing her head and, with an internal sigh, rose from his bed to rest his hand briefly on her hair, taking away the thump with a surge of healing energy. Then he reached out through the Force to the drunkards below, making them feel a sudden urge to go home and sleep. Drunkards were easy, as they did not have much of a free will; he did not even need to establish eye contact. "Now sleep," he ordered firmly.

Grateful for the unexpected loss of pounding in her head, and humoured by the sudden deathly silence from those below, Raven put the pieces together and smirked. Eeth must have cleared them out somehow.

"Yes, master," Raven replied through a sigh. Sleep was boring. Besides, she was awake now and wanted to go have some breakfast, but had a feeling that stating as much would not go over well with Eeth. Resigned to the inevitable, Raven closed her eyes and decided to attempt going back to sleep.

This was a wise decision, and since it was really very, very early, both master and padawan fell asleep again soon.

Eeth woke Raven at eight. That was more than sufficient for a shower, some meditation and breakfast in one of the taverns next door. As he wanted her to be well-rested, he had decided against waking her at six, as usual, even though he had already been awake for quite a while. He had spent the time leaning against the headboard of his bed, meditating.

"Come on, padawan," he said crisply. "Time to get up."

Being allowed to sleep until eight o'clock was truly a luxury for the pre-teen padawan, so when Eeth woke her, she rolled over, stretched out and smiled widely.

"Now this is more like it," she said, rubbing at her eyes and straightening up the bed as she left it.

Raven took her time with the usual morning rituals, appearing from their bathroom fully dressed, hair combed and teeth brushed. "That bathroom is totally gross. Just saying."

"Yes, this mission does not rank high on the luxury scale," Eeth agreed drily. "But luxury mostly means less action, so you will have to stick with gross bathrooms if you want to have interesting missions."

He disappeared into the bathroom himself for a while. When he re-emerged, he sat on the bed with Raven to perform their morning meditation.

Finally, they headed for breakfast. "I do not mind where we go," Eeth said. "You may pick a place. The food tends to be a bit bland around here. This planet has a lot of water and hardly any sun; some vegetables like this climate but it is too wet for most fruit and grains. Larivanians are great on fish, however."

"Me pick?" Raven snorted. "You're either feeling particularly brave, or suicidal!" Still, the padawan took a moment to look at all their options. She still wasn't sure what to make of the whole commercial fishing versus fish-eating dichotomy, and for a moment, she contemplated asking Eeth what he thought. Sure, he wasn't a vegetarian himself, but neither was he cruel-hearted. Mid-thought, Raven spotted a place that sold what looked a bit like porridge.

"Let's try this. The number of condiments and bowls of stuff to add to it makes me think that it could taste a bit better than it looks." She took them to an undercover area, littered with small tables and stools. There was a large buffet-style servery in the middle that held small pots of salted eggs, pickled tofu, different types of vegetables, meats, spices and cheeses.

"Alright," said Eeth with a nod and they entered the small eatery. He chose a table at the window, near a few merchants who were having breakfast before they opened their shops and a group of youngsters who looked as if they were skipping school. Greeting the other guests and receiving greetings in return, he grabbed a tray and started ladling porridge into a bowl.

Following suit, Raven noted the 'all you can eat' sign and was pleased that she would be able to come back and try something else if what she chose was terrible. Besides, the girl was hungry. Serving herself half a ladle of porridge, she scooped up an egg, a bit of each vegetable and some pieces of cheese with spices.

"I wonder what Lakhri is doing. I bet he would love this place with the all you can eat buffet," Raven observed and took a mouthful. Okay, so it wasn't at all bad!

"Oh, I daresay the food he is served at the palace will be pleasant enough," Eeth replied and tried a piece of smoked fish which tasted very fresh. Presumably, it was from the nearby sweetwater lakes; the coast was much further away.

Raven smiled at hearing this, knowing that being served good food would probably help to offset the horror of having to deal with officials in Lakhri's books. She glanced at Eeth's piece of fish. Usually, the padawan would have served herself similar and not thought anything of it. As it was, however, she wasn't so sure if actually eating fish was ethical after what she had overheard about the way they were caught and killed.

The nearby group of youngsters was very rowdy, except for one boy, who was glancing at Raven quite frequently. "It looks as if someone is interested in you," Eeth remarked neutrally.

Eeth's comment pulled Raven from her introspection and back to focus on the moment. She shot the boy in question a quick sideways glance, offering him an unintentionally coy smile before turning back to her food.

"What is it with the boys on this planet anyway?" Raven asked. Sure, at the Temple, boys had shown interest in her before, she was considered quite pretty to boys her age, but then, at the Temple they did not tend to stare. Unsure of what to do or how to act, Raven discreetly pulled the hood of her jacket up to cover her head, her cheeks colouring pink just beneath her eyes.

The edges of Eeth's mouth pulled up in amusement. Naturally, Raven would be used to boys at the Temple, who did not walk around looking for partners – or at least they were raised to pretend they were not, if Eeth was honest about it. It was different in the real world. Especially in the outlying colonies, people often courted very early. Besides, on planets like Larivan, outsiders, especially from Coruscant, would be considered intriguing. It was only natural that Raven would attract a certain amount of attention.

"Padawan, if people show an interest in you, it might not be a bad idea to talk to them," he said. "They might be willing to say more to a young girl they fancy than they would otherwise. But I will leave that decision to you; I understand if it makes you uncomfortable. However," he added sternly, "whatever you do: You are too young for kissing, let alone anything more than that. Are we clear on that?"

"Right, too young for kissing. Got it," Raven reiterated, her blush beginning to lessen now. Raven wasn't shy, per se, but neither was she interested in boys, at least not yet. Sure, some boys were cute, and she had even had a bit of a crush on her zoology teacher, Granzien, but that was where it ended for her.

"I was planning on talking to groups of people my age when you let me go off alone," she assured him. It left her wondering, though… Why was it that each time she felt she was resisting the urge to be reckless, it turned out to be a lost opportunity, and then, when it felt like the right thing to do, she ended up getting her ass nailed to the wall by the entire Jedi Council, among others?

Half an hour later, Raven had eaten her fill and even managed to procure her master a pot of tea, which they shared before leaving.

"Therkain Dartan's office is only a few blocks from here," she pointed out, tapping the spot on their map.

"I know," Eeth said. "Would you like to join me when I see her or would you rather head off on your own and see what you can find out?"

Despite busting to get out and explore on her own, and she really was!, Raven kept her answer diplomatic.

"I guess I'll go where I can be of the most use. Will I be any use to you?" she asked because, well, Raven was trying to put her duty before her personal wishes, as Eeth so often told her to do.

"In all honesty, my meeting with N'kayan Dartan will probably go easier if I do not have to explain your presence," Eeth replied, using the local title for a head of a guild. "And you will probably not be able to do anything but sit and listen. So, if you feel confident enough to do so, please head off on your own. You may always contact me on my comm if you need help, or, even better, contact me through our bond. If this does not happen, meet me back here at six pm."

He unfastened a small bag from his belt and handed it to her. "Here are some credits," he said, "in case you need to buy food or drinks or need to make a minor purchase in order to appear credible. It should be enough for those purposes."

Raven was elated, and despite her best efforts to remain stoic, it would have been obvious to Eeth that she had really, _rheeally_ wanted him to say that! So much so that she had only taken in half of what he had actually said.

"Yes, yes, I'll be fine, I swear it!" Raven pulled out her map to reassure him. "I already mapped out some places to check out last night, so I won't get lost," she assured him. Truth be told, she still had the fifteen credits she'd won from the guys in She'ams class, although she wasn't keen on explaining how she had come across those to begin with, so she kept quiet.

She turned to leave, only to turn back again. "What time and where do you want to meet again?" she asked, somewhat sheepishly.

Eeth frowned. Had they not been standing on an increasingly busy sidewalk, he might have pulled out his paddle and provided his padawan with a few reminders to pay attention when he was speaking.

"What about the words 'meet me back here at six pm' have you not understood?" he asked severely. "Shall I give it to you in writing? When I talk to you, I expect you to listen. There is no excuse for being this inattentive during a mission. Do not let it happen again." His voice carried a clear note of 'or else'.

Okay, so Raven had expected that and she ducked her head.

"Yes, master, sorry. I was kinda distracted … you can write it down if you like, though," she said quietly, but the smile on her face was all teeth. Ordinarily, Raven would not have risked an attempt at humour under such circumstances, but he had been a little more tolerant of her smartassery since Lakhri had come back. That, coupled with the fact that they were standing in the middle of a busy street, undercover!, gave her the courage to risk a little bantering with him.

"I am going to write it down on your bottom with my paddle if you give me any more cheek," Eeth said in a low, stern voice. "Do not get distracted. Period. Now off you go."

"Uh," Raven coughed unnecessarily, biting the inside of her cheek to hide her smile. She said nothing else, though. Instead, she inclined her head slightly, and then, after another quick glance at the map, took off down the street and into an alley that would lead to her first point of interest.

Eeth remained standing there for a while, fighting a sudden protective urge as his padawan headed down the street, before turning on his heel and striding off towards the headquarters of the merchants' guild while the rain was pouring down, as usual.

The talk with Therkain Dartan was polite, extensive and utterly unsatisfactory. The woman seemed to accept Eeth's fake credentials as a Republican trader with interest and did not tire of affirming her commitment to joining the Republic in order to create opportunities for all kinds of legal trade. She completely ignored Eeth's hints to the less legal kinds of trade, did not know the tiniest bit about the royal family's whereabouts and would be glad to see their backs. As for the Eastern islands, the sea was currently dangerous to travel due to storms that had shifted the ubiquitous sandbanks, but as those islands had no importance for legal trade anyway, there was no reason for Eeth to go there.

Eeth left after two hours of fruitless talks and made his way to another part of the city where he hoped to meet one of the Jedi's contacts, a local peacekeeper. He was deep in thought; if Dartan was lying, she was hiding it well, but there was some double-play involved, that much was definite.

Before he reached his goal, he realised that he was being followed. His first impulse was to lose his pursuer, but he rarely followed his first impulses. The pursuer must have been sent by Dartan. He was pretty certain that Dartan could not have more than a vague suspicion that he was not who he pretended to be. If he proved too adept at noticing and losing his pursuer, that would only increase her suspicion. It might be better to play along for a while and pretend not to be on his guard.

Thus, he spent the rest of the day talking to local producers and traders about their merchandise and making notes about prices and availability. In the late afternoon, he casually mentioned several times that he was about to meet his young apprentice in the old town. At ten to six, he was back in front of the eatery they had had breakfast at, waiting for Raven and hoping that she would not blow their cover by some remark or other.

* * *

Raven arrived at the cafe at exactly five after six, puffing slightly and still dressed in the disguise she had donned from the school that she had visited last. Her expression was neutral, but across their bond she conveyed that she was sorry for being late, and that it was due to a belly ache and her attire. Neither were major issues. The former was simply from consuming ice-cream and fizzy drinks with a bunch of friends she had made. The Temple-raised padawan was not accustomed to that mix. The latter, well, she looked down at the formless dress, the only upside of which was that the material it was made of kept her dry! Immediately, she noticed that something was not quite right, and so she went for a more generic greeting that would not look out of place.

"Sorry I'm late, I have a pain in the tummy."

Eeth was less than pleased that he had had to wait for his padawan while being shadowed by Dartan's agent. Betraying none of this feeling, he smiled benignly. "It's no trouble," he said jovially in a voice and manner that were so totally unlike his usual self that they could not fail to attract Raven's attention. At the same time, he conveyed a sense of warning to her through the Force. "I have looked at the shops around here while I was waiting," he continued cheerfully. "It was enough to keep me entertained. What's this about your tummy? Have you eaten too much? Does it hurt badly? We should go back to our hostel; I can make you a hot-water bottle there."

Had Raven not anticipated the showdown to end all showdowns for her seemingly endless ability to arrive late! She would probably have asked what he'd found out. As it stood, the padawan approached him with caution, a brow quirking slightly at his response. It's no trouble? I have looked at the shops?! I can make you a hot-water bottle?! Oooookay, that was just weird. And if that totally out-of-character response from Eeth were not enough to tip her off, the sense she got across their bond confirmed it: either Eeth had gone mad … or something was wrong. Deciding that the latter was more likely (not that she would blame him for the former), the padawan played along.

"A bit." She rubbed at her stomach. "Are you almost finished with your meetings?"

"Oh, yes, I have finished for today," Eeth said with a smile, and loud enough for their "companion", who was looking at comlinks in a shop window behind him, to hear. "One or two more days here, then we will move on to … what's that place called … Nuishum? Nuimush?"

"Nuimesh," Raven supplied. She was now one hundred percent certain that something was up. Eeth never forgot a mission detail, not ever.

"Yes, the one near the Western rainforest. I have been told the wildlife is amazing there. Anyway, let's turn in and see to that tummy of yours," said Eeth.

"Yes, let's! I'm going to die," Raven played her part.

Content to bore him with drabble from her slightly factitious day, the padawan continued to prattle on until they entered their room, at which point Eeth put a finger to his lips and produced a small device from his utility belt with which he checked every nook and cranny of the room.

"Alright," he said finally. "No bugs. She cannot have been that suspicious. If we are lucky, she just wanted to find out whether I am harmless and we might have convinced her on that count."

He turned towards Raven and folded his arms across his chest. "Now," he said evenly. "Are you ill or have you merely eaten too many sweets?"

"Bugs? Convinced who? What is going on?" Raven wanted to know.

"What is going on is that someone has been following me since I left Dartan's office," Eeth said dismissively. "I could easily have lost him, but that might have been more suspicious than to play along and pretend not to notice. If she had been seriously intrigued, she probably would have found out where I live and bugged the room, so she is no more than mildly curious. We will be able to shake off any pursuers once we leave the city, if she has not given up already after the performance we delivered. Now, would you be so kind as to answer my question?"

"It was a pretty good performance, yes?" The question wasn't exactly rhetorical, but when Eeth simply continued to give her 'the look', Raven decided it best to answer his question. "I ate too much, and I have a pain in the stomach. I would really love that hot-water bottle…"

Eeth rested a hand on her head and scanned her condition through the Force. Judging it none too serious, he said, "I will help you with your stomach ache in a moment. First, bare your bottom and bend over the bed."

He pulled the paddle from his belt without disrupting his severe gaze, the look on his face making it very clear that he had no intention to discuss his instruction.

Raven looked at him, looked at the paddle and then she looked back at him with a pained expression. Of course she had recognised the look on Eeth's face and what it meant. And since there wasn't any really good excuse other than the fact that she had been enjoying herself, eaten too much and was wearing clothing that was not easy to run in, Raven didn't argue. She did, however, huff, making her displeasure clear as she spun to face her bed. It was done far too quickly for Raven's liking; the dress she wore needed nothing more than pulling up a little, and her underpants were easy to deal with.

"You were five minutes late, padawan," Eeth said matter-of-factly. "That will be five swats with the paddle. I do not accept tardiness, let alone on a mission."

With this, he brought the paddle down onto her bottom, hard. After a brief pause, he let a second swat follow. He did not quite put his full force into them, but they were certainly harder than the "reminders" he used to deal out at the Temple. This was a mission, and he expected his padawan to pay attention, obey his orders and be on time.

Okay, so five swats wasn't so bad, Raven thought. Then again, Eeth wasn't known to dish out token punishments, so she doubted it would be a cake walk either.

Sure enough, the first had her truly smarting. Not badly enough to make her lose her shit, but certainly enough to get her complete and undivided attention!

"Oww! Master, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry!" she blurted as he landed the third, because just maybe apologising profusely would soften him a little, or more importantly, soften his swing.

Ignoring her outcry, Eeth methodically completed the set of five swats, and he made each of them count. When he was done, he stuck the paddle back into its place in his belt and waited for Raven to regain her composure and straighten up.

Raven was not one to tough out punishment – it was impossible to do so with a master like Eeth Koth – which was why the only thing on her mind right now was trying to rub out the sting.

Another few seconds passed before the padawan righted herself. She set her jaw and turned to face Eeth. Raven wasn't angry or anything, nor could she say that it had been underserved, but it was still hard to think like that while your ass was on fire. Honestly, how could five swats hurt so bad?! At least this was what her expression said.

Eeth pulled her into a brief hug.

"Do not let it happen again, padawan," he said quietly. "This time, it worked to our advantage. At other times, the opposite might be the case."

Releasing her, he said: "You may change into something more practical than this dress if you like. Then we should talk about our day and how to proceed from here."

Among other things, he would have to find an inconspicuous way to lose his pursuer. But, he reasoned, there was also a positive aspect to their unwanted company: it told them that they were onto something. Things were beginning to happen.


	4. Chapter 4

"Did you find out anything today?" asked Eeth. They had spent most of it separately, each of them conducting their own investigations. Eeth had not managed to gain much information, other than the fact that the head of the merchants' guild, Therkain Dartan, apparently considered it necessary to send an agent after him. He hoped that Raven had been more successful.

What Raven had found during her first solo excursion on this mission was not exactly ground-breaking, but it was all relevant, and she took her time explaining each detail as Eeth listened.

"The first few points of interest turned out to be anything but," she told Eeth. "I didn't discover anything new visiting the taverns mid-morning. BUT, believe it or not, the senior citizens were a blast. A couple of them joked about some of the royal family's children belonging to the queen's personal security guard instead of the king. They also said that it was probably because the queen was forced into marrying the king due to loyalties, and that they did not blame her for seeking 'comfort' in another man's arms." She quirked a brow at this, but continued nevertheless. "I'm not sure what they meant by that, exactly, but it started off this huge debate, I'm serious, master, they were pelting muffins at each other by the time I left," she explained, grinning. It was probably un-Jedi-like of her, but that had been fun.

"After that, I went to a thrift shop and scored a uniform; I thought it could be helpful to see what the locals my age thought or were willing to say about the royal family. I sat in a shuttle shelter outside Lossola Public for ages before people started showing up. I followed the group, introduced myself as a new student staying here temporarily, and after a bit of coaxing they started talking. I did manage to make some friends, although the only information I could get from them about the royal family was that the fifteen-year-old prince, James, is apparently so cute that they were unable to come up with words." Raven did not seem convinced, however, and simply rolled her eyes. "They did invite me out again tonight, though. Maybe it's a good idea if I take them up on that?" It was phrased as a statement, but her last word left it open to being a request.

"Hmm," said Eeth neutrally, thinking. While he did so, he briefly recounted his own day and concluded, "It will be hard to find out anything more in Lossola with Dartan's people on our heels, but we should give it another day before we leave anyway. If we leave in a hurry, it will look suspicious. In the remaining time, we should make use of any chance, unlikely as it may be, to find out more, so I am inclined to let you meet your new friends. Where and when will the meeting take place?"

"Plus, if Dartan has someone watching us, they're more likely to follow you around than me," Raven added, pulling a datapad from her pack in order to answer his question.

"Their names are Emily, Jess, Savan and, Maris: two humanoids, one Falleen and a Zabrak. We're supposed to meet back at the cafe around seven-thirty, and from there we'll go on to Melford's arcade," she explained, already finding it hard to conceal her excitement at the prospect of getting to go.

Eeth nodded. "Alright. You may go, under several conditions. You will take your comlink and call me whenever you sense danger. You will also call me if you go to other locations than those you mentioned or if anything unexpected arises that you do not know how to deal with. You will not consume intoxicating substances of any kind, and you will be back here by ten thirty. I will try to lose my watchdog and go out myself. It should be easy to get by him as long as he thinks I am spending the night in my hotel room."

"Yes, master," the padawan replied, thinking that his conditions, although thoroughly exhaustive, seemed reasonable enough.

"The arcade is not far from the cafe area. It took me twenty-five minutes to get back today, but I wasn't exactly able to move all that quickly … Do you have a medical kit, and if so can I have it for a minute?"

Eeth rested his hand on Raven's head and checked her condition through the Force, finding that there was no serious cause to the queasiness she had complained about earlier. "Your stomach will be better in a while," he said. "Be more careful with the amount you eat in the future. If it bothers you, though…"

He rummaged around in his bag for a moment and produced a small package of dry and rather bland biscuits that served as an emergency ration, but were also soothing to an upset stomach. "Eat one of those," he said. "And I will make you a tea that will ease your stomach pain." He pulled a small package of greenish powder from his medical kit, set water to the boil, put a spoonful of powder in a cup, poured the water over it and handed the cup to Raven. "Drink," he ordered. The tea was going to make her stomach feel better in no time. Before it did, however, she would have to get over the taste, which was mostly bitter.

Raven accepted the ration pack with a look of distaste. Still, she knew that it was going to help and therefore, she started gnawing on the chaff-like biscuit. Surprisingly, it didn't taste as bad as it looked, and her stomach wasn't rejecting it, so she did not complain. The tea, on the other hand, tasted like a handful of dandelions with all the dirt still stuck to the bottom, and her face said as much. Despite this, the padawan took another sip, squinting, holding the cup away from herself.

"Ah, that's much better now, all good! Thank you, master," she lied and placed the cup aside.

Eeth gave her his patented glare and pointed at the cup. "Drink," he ordered again, and his voice made it quite clear that he was not going to repeat himself a second time.

Raven did not take her eyes off him as she reached for the cup and, the second he turned away, she started looking for some way to get rid of it. Alas, short of tossing it out the window, which Eeth was sure to notice, nothing presented itself. Resigned, the padawan sighed, blocked her nose and threw it back. It was truly awful.

"Arghhh! the taste... It's herrible!" she gagged, and flew into the bathroom to brush the taste out of her mouth.

From Raven's reaction, Eeth concluded that the mere threat of having to drink this tea might be an effective deterrent against indulging in too much ice cream the next time. Smirking slightly at this realisation, Eeth waited as Raven brushed her teeth for an unusually long time. Still, he knew that the tea was an effective remedy against stomach ailments, so his padawan ought to feel better soon.

Five minutes and a quarter tube of toothpaste later, Raven returned. Okay, so her stomach had settled a little but she wasn't at all sure it was worth it.

"I can't decide if I want to be mad because you made me drink that sock water, or thank you because it actually worked," Raven said.

"Feel free to be both," Eeth said wryly. "I am glad you are feeling better. Do you have enough credits left for the evening?"

"Course," Raven replied, rifling through her bag and placing what remained of the credits on her bed for him to see.

When Eeth just nodded, Raven gathered up her stash, shoved it back into her pack and went to get ready. This was going to be awesome! She was so excited, yet despite this, she was able to keep herself from jumping around like a loon. Just!

It did not take her long. After applying a little lip gloss that she had purchased earlier, the padawan began sorting through the bag of Temple clothing for something that was practical, yet still 'peer-appropriate'. She did not have much to choose from, yet she still managed to piece together a pair of black shorts with the tan singlet and the white overshirt she had left the cruiser wearing. Shoes were proving a little more problematic, but the pair of flat blacks she had gotten with the school uniform would have to do. They would not be ideal, but they would do in a pinch.

"Can I go?" Raven asked, emerging from the bathroom while still fussing with one side of her hair.

"You may," said Eeth, eyeing her lip gloss with raised eyebrows, but deciding not to comment. "Stay safe and see what you can find out. Even if it only serves to give you a better impression of the culture, it might be useful. So, have … err … fun. I will see you at half past ten."

"I will, promise," Raven replied. She had noticed his raised eyebrows but wasn't quite sure what she had done to warrant them. Turning on her heel the padawan made to leave, only to stop short and shoot Eeth a cheeky grin.

"Thank you for the disgusting tea."

"You are welcome," said Eeth, his face unmoved.

The first thing he did after Raven had left was to call Lakhri who had not uncovered any specific evidence but found the merchants' behaviour just as inconsistent and suspicious as Eeth did. They agreed that, if nothing else came up, Eeth and Raven would leave for the West the day after tomorrow and "disappear" on their way back, trying to make it to the Eastern islands.

Eeth used the Force to conceal his presence and silently made his way downstairs. His pursuer was sitting in the hotel lobby, reading. Leaving undetected was no problem for Eeth. His evening did not turn out to be particularly productive, though. He talked to many people, but did not come across any useful hints or obtain information that he had not already possessed before. At twenty past ten, he returned to his hotel room and waited for Raven.

* * *

"Glad you could make it," Maris said in way of greeting when Raven wandered into the cafe, right on time.

"Course. I said I would be here." Raven smiled, hiding her confusion as she looked around at the booths but did not see anyone familiar. "Soooo, where is everyone else?" she wanted to know.

"We'll have to meet them there, our class got out late."

"Late? How come?" Raven asked. Of course she had not been attending any of the classes that day, but Maris didn't need to know that.

"A window broke and we spent the last hour chasing out a pair of birds that flew in during break. It was the best end to a school day I've had yet," said Maris. "The others live closer to the arcade, so I volunteered to stop by and see if you were going to show up or not. Come on, let's go. We gotta stop in at a friend's place on the way and I want to make it in time for the cheap credits."

At this Raven hesitated, but she tried to make it look as if she hadn't.

"Okay, but where is your friend's house?" she asked casually. "I have to tell my guardian if we're going anywhere but the arcade," she admitted and reached into her bag to get her comlink.

"I wouldn't worry, it's literally a thirty-second stop on the way. My uncle is pretty well-off, we get to ride in a private speeder," Maris boasted.

A private speeder? Raven wasn't sure what to make of that as most of the kids here got around either on hoverbikes or public shuttles. Unfortunately, her expression conveyed her doubts.

"It's just one quick stop, and we'll be doing half-price tokens at Melford's in no time. But I'm not gonna force you or anything. If you're scared I'll eat you, you can catch a public shuttle. No need for a safe call. No hard feelings." But really, there were hard feelings; did she stink or something? She had gone out of her way to be kind and include this outsider because she seemed pretty cool, and now she wasn't even going to ride with her. Rude much?

Raven picked up on Maris' hurt and it seemed genuine, but despite this, she remained silent. Thinking. For a Jedi, time to think was always granted as it was how they were raised, but to others those long pauses sometimes worked against them, or at least it did in the inexperienced.

When Raven did not immediately veto her insecurities, Maris shrugged. "Suit yourself, but I gotta go now." And with that, she left for the bay that private speeders used to dock.

This left Raven between a rock and a hard place. If she said no and opted for a public shuttle, or worse, went with Maris and checked in with Eeth, what impression would that give? Hardly a positive one; how the Force could she expect to be a part of their group if they thought her scared and paranoid? Frustrated, and lacking time to really think this through, Raven made an irritated sound that she mostly reserved for Eeth when he was being too pushy and took off after Maris.

Twenty minutes later, Raven found herself waiting in the shuttle for Maris to come out already! She had been in there for fifteen minutes which was far, _far_ longer than Maris had originally said.

"Look, kid, Poss hired me for a ten minute transfer, this is pushing the friendship, even for him," their driver told Raven, the expectation being that she would know what to do about this!

Right … Raven guessed that Poss was Maris' father, but what was she meant to tell this guy? Maris had said she was going to be THIRTY seconds!

"I'll go see what's taking her so long. Wait, please." And after receiving an impatient nod from their driver, she opened the door and exited the speeder.

Immediately, Raven scanned for danger and cloaked her presence. She was nowhere near experienced enough to completely conceal herself using the Force, but the heavy clouds and dwindling sunlight would work in her favour here. She pulled her comlink but hesitated to call Eeth because what could she tell him? "Come help me, I'm wandering around some strange place looking for a friend due to unforeseen circumstances!?" He'd think she had lost her damn mind. No, she was going to deal with this herself. Her first reaction was to go to the front door and knock, demanding to know what was taking so long because they were going to lose their private speeder that Eeth didn't know she was in! But there was just something off about this place, this entire situation, actually, that had her veering towards a window instead…

What she saw had her pulling her lightsaber from her pack.

Maris was sitting on a stool before a handful of beings of different species, crying.

"Look, that's all they gave me, I don't know anything about any other payments! Please, you have to believe me, I'm just doing what I'm told!" Maris pleaded, flinching when one of the men produced a vibro-blade while another started making calls.

Raven's heart lurched in her chest and before she could think, she reached out with the Force, pushing the man with the vibro-blade backwards just enough to make him think he'd stumbled of his own accord. It was at that moment that she noticed the far wall was absolutely crammed full of illegal weapons, and there were piles of cargo crates, some opened, some still sealed, littering the adjacent room.

Everyone in the room, including the one making calls, looked towards the man who had stumbled, but nobody was willing to draw attention to it. The guy was obviously high while on the job, and he would be dealt with later.

"Enough, you're clear. Stop crying. I'm not gonna shank you, at least not this time. I just had to make sure you were telling us the truth. I can't have you stashing half our profits for your next hoverbike. Go on, get out of here, and make sure you deliver that to Poss because if he doesn't get it I'm gonna come personally kick your ass, understand?" He didn't wait for an answer before kicking her chair, sending her skidding towards the door.

Maris was fast on her feet and showed no signs of pain, despite how hard she had hit the floor. She kept her head down, snatched up the package and bolted for the door.

Raven saw her coming and had nowhere to go. She drew on the Force and blurred back to the speeder, overshooting her mark slightly and surprising the unsuspecting driver by practically bouncing off his door.

"What in Hoth! Kid, are you okay?" the driver asked, sticking his head out to find Raven flat on her back, staring up at him.

"I'm fine" Raven lied smoothly, standing and brushing herself off as if she had not just half winded herself on the side of his speeder. "She's coming now. Sorry to make you wait." Raven ignored the disbelief on the driver's face; she was simply glad Maris was out of there.

The next few minutes passed in silence, but Raven couldn't let it drag on, considering what she had seen and the state of her friend. Granted, Maris was doing a commendable job at hiding it, but she was no match for Raven.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just had a fight with my friend. I don't want to talk about it," Maris said.

Raven placed a hand on her arm and, like she did with animals, projected calm. She had never really tried this approach on a person before and was pleased to discover it worked pretty much the same, although not nearly as effectively.

She had to get Maris in a talking mood and try to find out who Poss was, and if the house was simply a front for an even bigger smuggling operation. This was Eeth's field of expertise, not hers. Force, nothing was her field of expertise unless screwing up counted as a field! She'd barely been a padawan for a year and she needed Eeth to tell her if this warranted the bad feeling she had.

"What the hell, Maris," Savan complained, when the pair finally arrived, HALF AN HOUR into cheap credits time!

"I got caught up." Maris shrugged it off, moving towards the cashier.

"Oh, please tell me this isn't the 'Poss' kind of 'caught up'," Jess asked, sounding half exasperated and half concerned as she tried to conceal the fact that she was checking her friend over.

Maris didn't dignify that with an answer. Of course it was the Poss kind of caught up, because nothing else would keep her from missing time at the arcade, and her friends all knew that.

Once the initial interrogation was over, the mood picked up again. They each took a turn to show Raven a part of the arcade and asked questions about similar places on Coruscant and what stuff they had there. Finally, when they had all but exhausted the last of their credits, they decided to sit and order a drink each with what was left.

Raven wasn't planning on having anything crazy, not after the stomach ache she had endured earlier. And apparently neither was anyone else. They all ordered juice or, in Maris' case, some spicy concoction that Raven guessed, from the potent smell, Eeth would probably like.

"Does Poss go to Lossola Public too?" Raven asked casually and immediately felt the Zabrak tense beside her.

"No. He's my uncle," Maris said, and Raven did not need the Force to tell this was not something she wanted to discuss. Pity, because she wanted to know what was going on. Thus, she pushed.

"I got the impression that he's not very popular." Raven was referring to Jess' comment earlier, and a few random details she had picked up from Savan and Emily over the evening. "Is he mean to you or something?"

"Sometimes he is. His work is stressful, which means I have to step up and take on more responsibility than most. I guess sometimes he can be a dick." Maris was doing an admirable job at hiding the discomfort Raven sensed within. It was rather impressive, actually, considering this girl was not a Jedi and presumably lacked any sort of training in such things.

"I can understand that. My guardian is very strict; I can't get away with anything." Raven was playing this up a little, but she wanted them to trust her, and a common enemy was a good way to start. "That's why I hesitated to go with you tonight, not because I don't trust you or anything, but because my guardian tends to get prickly when I deviate from his instructions."

Maris nodded, feeling a little more secure by this sharing of truths.

"It's just frustrating. I know he has to work to feed us but I just wish he could find another job. One that doesn't mean I have to run errands like tonight."

"You were in there for ages. Are you a delivery messenger for your uncle's company then?" Raven asked.

"Something like that. I don't mind the running around so much, it's just that some of his customers are a bit on the intense side."

Raven nodded; that must be why Jess had been concerned earlier.

"I've had some trouble with these men before," Maris elaborated. "They pushed me around a little last time; I think it scared my friends more than me." Maris grinned at Jess, who just tutted.

"Poss was pretty pissed, but he needs the credits, sooo…" Maris shrugged. "Not much I can do. It's not all that bad. I've got one more delivery there tomorrow after school, and then Poss is handing that particular client over to my older brother, Chase. He says these guys are getting too pushy because our planet is having a political 'moment'. It will be better again once the royal family are reinstated."

"Reinstated?" Raven had to tread carefully here. If she came across as knowing too much for an of an off-world trader's apprentice, it was going to blow her cover. At the same time, this was the very topic they had been sent here to find out about! "Aren't your royalty missing, presumed dead? I'm sure I saw something about that on the holo on the way here."

"It's hard to say, and depends heavily on which side of the fence you sit," interjected Emily, which surprised Raven as she was a rather quiet personality.

Savan was nodding. "It's true that they are missing, but a lot of people think that they are just hiding out until the dust blows over, and then they will retake their rightful place. So far nobody knows anything, which is why our acting government has asked the Jedi for help."

"Yes! Chase said he saw him! A dinky little fellow, apparently."

After this, and much to Raven's annoyance, their conversation deviated from the royal family and focused mostly on Lakhri! There wasn't much she could do to bring the conversation back to the royal family, least of all find out anything about the blockade to the Eastern Islands without looking like she knew too much.

It was exactly 22:27 when a weary-looking Raven entered their hostel. She had left early to ensure a timely arrival and still managed to only just make it.

"Master," she said, greeting Eeth with a tiny bow.

"Did your friend follow you?" she enquired, kicking off her shoes and wincing slightly as she pulled off her singlet; she had hit that speeder harder than she had thought.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Of course not," he said mildly. "He did not even notice I was gone. He went missing from the hotel lounge while I was away, but I notice that we have got a new night porter. Dartan still is not sure whether we are harmless, apparently."

"No offence, master, but you're far from harmless. Perhaps you should try torturing information from Dartan with some of that tea?" she suggested, pulling on her pants.

Eeth ignored this. "How was your evening? I sensed you draw on the Force several times. Are you hurt?"

Raven left her shirt off for the moment, turned side on and held up her right arm to reveal what was the beginnings of a spectacular looking bruise spanning the length of her ribcage.

Eeth frowned and stepped over to her. He examined the bruise with gentle fingers and finally said: "It is not broken, but a bruised rib can hurt badly. Lie down on your bed. I will perform some healing. While I do, tell me what happened."

Raven did as told. It wasn't really painful yet, but she was pretty sure that if left untreated, by tomorrow it would be. She used the time to explain to Eeth what had happened from the time she left their hostel to the time she arrived back.

"I'm worried for Maris. She could get hurt if her uncle keeps making her do this sort of thing. I know saving her is not our mission mandate, but if we happen to help her out in the process, it would be great," Raven said hopefully, while trying to lie still as Eeth worked.

"I will think about it," Eeth said solemnly, and he meant it. There were many things to consider with regard to the story Raven had told him and he was not going to make any rash decisions. "Tomorrow morning," he continued as he opened a jar and spread some bacta across the damaged area, "we will talk about how to proceed from here. Before we do that, though, there is the matter of taking unnecessary risks to your safety to discuss."

"Wait a moment, the risks were most definitely necessary," Raven argued because, Force, if he nailed her with that one, the shit was going to hit the fan. Shit hitting the fan was to be avoided at all costs, especially so on a mission, as Raven was finding out.

"Remind me of the instructions I gave you when you left," Eeth said sternly, screwing the jar shut and wiping his hands on a tissue.

Raven scooted back on her bed, grabbed her shirt, and pulled it over her head, the haste in which she did so causing her to wince.

"You said to stay safe, have, er, 'fun' and to see what I can find out," Raven repeated, because it was worth a try. She did not want to end this day on his shit list.

Eeth glared at her. "I allowed you to go, under several conditions," he snapped. "Do you remember them or need we have another discussion on listening to my instructions?" The tone of his voice clearly suggested that any such discussion would take place with Raven over his knee.

"No, I listened," Raven told him, her face scrunching when Eeth kept glaring at her. Okay, so apparently she was going to have to say it. "You said to take my comlink and use it if I sense danger, don't know how to deal with something or go somewhere other than the arcade. I didn't drink anything, though, and I was back early." Because those were valid points, also.

"And why," asked Eeth, "did you not notify me, then? You went to an unforeseen place and witnessed a dangerous situation, one that required you to draw on the Force repeatedly. Even if you were reluctant to call me in front of your friend, you could have sent me a message. When you were waiting for your friend in the car, she would not even have noticed. Or you could have reached out to me through the Force. I could have been there within minutes, without ever making an appearance in front of your friends. Is there any valid reason why you did not even make the slightest attempt to obey my instructions?"

Well, yes, she had one but how that was going to go over with Eeth was yet to be determined.

"I did think to contact you but I was just waiting in a speeder, and I decided that I really didn't need the help and the detour was minor; at that point it would have been overkill." Raven looked up at him, looking annoyed. "Also, as soon as I realised what was really going on, it was all over and we were leaving."

"There was no need for you to 'realise what was going on' before deigning to notify me," Eeth said, his voice hard. "You should simply have followed your orders. That is why I gave them to you. Imagine for a moment that you had been detected and knocked out. I would have had no more than a vague idea of your whereabouts, just because you did not think it necessary to go to the trouble of calling me or sending me a message from the car. You took utterly unnecessary chances with your safety, and that is something I do not take lightly. I cannot allow you to work independently during missions if I cannot rely on you to tell me where you are at all times."

"Aww, master, don't say that!" Raven whined, dragging both hands down her face. Again, she was tempted to reiterate that he gave far too many instructions, and it would be easier for her to obey them all if he gave fewer, but that had gone over like a lead balloon the last time she had tried it. "I'm sorry. I want you to trust me, really! I was just trying to get some information for our mission and be useful." Raven was looking truly piteous now, both because she had failed, again, and because Eeth was pissed.

"You have been very useful, as a matter of fact," said Eeth, a little more gently. "The information you obtained might turn out to be quite valuable. It would have been just as valuable if you had gone to the trouble of informing me of your whereabouts, though. And I will make sure you do not forget this when you go off to meet your friends the next time."

He pushed his chair back and patted his lap. "Bare your bottom and bend over," he said.

Her eyes shot up to meet his when he mentioned going out again. Apparently, he wasn't banning all independent investigation on her part which was a relief! Now, the hard part was how she was going to involve herself with that group again, but if Eeth trusted her to find a way, she would. Tilting her head to the side, Raven was about to ask if he had any ideas about that, or if he was planning on coming along, when he made the gesture loathed by padawans everywhere.

How had she managed this? Again! Okay, so last time had not been all that spectacular, but it still hurt and copping it twice in one day was not going to be pleasant.

"Masterrrr…" Raven was about to add a request that he consider some other form of punishment to that whine, but this had yet to result in anything good. So, she edged her way over to him as slow as humanly possible.

Eeth glared at her, not at all pleased with her stalling. This was one of the rare cases in which he was planning on using nothing but his hand, but those plans could easily change if they were not met with compliance on his padawan's part.

Raven let her arms flop around a bit to emphasise her horror at catching his expression. That look had never resulted in anything good, nor had trying to get out of punishment for that matter, especially if it was over something like safety rules. Huffing, she inched forward until she was just close enough to grab, and slid her sleep pants down. Now that her attention was focused on her ass, she could actually still feel mild discomfort from earlier; after all, he had really walloped her with that paddle!

Barely coming within sufficient distance for him to grab and put her bodily over his knee was not what Eeth had expected. His face darkened even more. Still without saying a word, his stern gaze not leaving Raven's face, he started unbuckling his belt.

Okay, so shit was trumps. Raven's insides froze, but fortunately for her, the rest of her body did not.

"No wait! I'm doing it!" Raven blurted. She reefed up her sleep shirt and threw herself over his lap in less than a heartbeat. She hoped that contrition and some speedy compliance would be enough to spare her.

Eeth did not reply to that. Instead, he raised his hand and started covering Raven's bottom with sharp swats. He did not intend to punish her harshly, but he did want to make a point, and that point had to be convincing enough to make her think twice before she next rushed into danger without informing him.

It hurt! Not that Raven had expected anything less. Raven was just thankful that he had not lit into her with his belt because that was to be avoided at all costs! She tried her best not to make too much of a fuss, but it really was asking quite a lot, considering who she was dealing with here. It was hardly surprising that after less than a minute of this, her resolve faltered and the grunts of pain turned into whimpers, and eventually sniffles.

Eeth spanked Raven until she was crying steadily. Then he paused briefly and said: "That was for neglecting to follow your instructions and ensuring your safety. And this is for stalling when I asked you to get over my knee." He pulled his belt free, doubled it over and brought it down onto her bottom twice in quick succession, drawing a howl from Raven at each.

"Alright, padawan. It's over," he said calmly, patting Raven's back and waiting for her to regain her composure.

Raven allowed herself a couple of seconds to catch her breath before quickly getting to her feet. Sure, that had been horrifying, but all things considered, Eeth had actually been rather lenient, by his standards, meaning, he had only given her two. That didn't mean that Raven wasn't hurting now, though; she was, and her expression said as much.

Eeth rose and rested a hand on Raven's shoulder. "I am not angry with you, padawan," he said quietly. "Only concerned for your wellbeing. Minding your safety is all the more important now that you are granted more independence. Please bear this in mind when you next go off on your own."

"Yes master, I-I know, I'm s-soreee," she sniffled and swiped a sleeve beneath her nose.

Twenty minutes later, Raven emerged from the bathroom, feeling a little better for having washed her face, not to mention stuck her ass under the cold water for a while. Curling up on her bed, she rolled onto the side that didn't hurt and faced Eeth. She had stopped sniffling and was no longer sulking, but she was hurting. "Did your master ever spank you during a mission?" she asked, looking for reassurance. Sure, Eeth had alluded to the fact that he had gotten into trouble with Fenya before, but he had never gone into detail.

"She did, padawan," Eeth replied mildly. "And for much the same thing as you did today: for going into potentially dangerous situations without asking for permission, without proper backup and without even notifying anyone because I had a tendency to consider myself invincible. I learned, eventually. And so will you."

Eeth's reply was unusually detailed considering that she had asked him such a personal question. It was appreciated, though, and her smile said as much. "I won't let you down," she said, and Raven really meant that, even if she knew it was unlikely her apprenticeship would pass without another mishap.

"Good," said Eeth with a small smile. "We will talk tomorrow morning about how to proceed from here. For now, will you be able to sleep? How is your rib feeling?"

"It only hurts if I lie on it," Raven admitted because Eeth had healed her once already and relieved a good portion of the throb. Her ass on the other hand, hurt like a fucker, which she knew would have been obvious.

Eeth nodded. He produced a small bottle from his bag, measured a spoonful of dark liquid from it and handed it to Raven.

"This medication," he said, "will help with the remaining pain in your rib and any other part of your body."

"Any other part?" Raven hedged, accepting the spoon without complaint. The grin on her face, however, would have told Eeth that the question was rhetorical.

"Any other part," Eeth replied, his face deadpan. He knew exactly what his padawan was referring to but he did a good job of not letting it on.

Raven downed the spoon full of liquid evil, doing her best not to gag as it was truly, truly dreadful. She handed it back to him without looking up.

Eeth accepted the spoon. "Now sleep; tomorrow might be another long day."

Raven was still trying to shave her tongue with her teeth while Eeth was pulling the blanket around her. Today had been trying for the padawan, though, and as he stood to leave, she did something that she wouldn't ordinarily do. "Will you sit with me for a minute?" It was not like Raven to be needy but she'd had a hard day.

Eeth paused for a moment, surprised by this request. However, he had no reason to deny it. "Of course, padawan," he said gently, sitting at the edge of her bed and resting his hand on her back.

It didn't take long before Raven fell asleep; she was exhausted both physically and mentally and, as Eeth had said, tomorrow could be another long day.


	5. Chapter 5

Eeth awoke early the next morning, as usual. He meditated for a while and then started thinking through their situation. He wanted to get at the arms dealers Raven had discovered because he strongly suspected that they had knowledge of the whereabouts of the royal family. Partly, this was just a hunch – a hunch that correlated with the strong interest Dartan, the head of the merchants' guild, had shown in him, as well as with the rumours about the Eastern islands, which were said to be the arms smugglers' hideout. Besides, Raven had mentioned that her friend Maris had made a remark about the royal family being reinstated soon; where would she have this idea from, if not from her family who were involved in illegal weapons trade? Eeth's instincts told him this was too important a lead to overlook. And precisely for that reason, he was not going to involve law enforcement. The police were just going to lock these men away, with no opportunity for Eeth to collect information. Thus, he was going to resolve this between himself, Raven, Lakhri and any discreet backup that Lakhri could obtain at the palace. The mere threat of involving law enforcement might be useful to motivate the arms dealers to provide him with the information he needed – even if it meant letting them go in the end. After all, this mission was not about bringing down weapons smugglers, as welcome as that would be, but about retrieving the royal family.

At half past seven, he woke Raven. "Good morning, padawan," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I could sleep for another half hour," Raven groaned, rolling herself into a cocoon and grumbling about masters who torture their apprentices with early mornings.

"That was NOT what I meant" Eeth said sternly. "Out of bed with you. We need to make plans." He pointed a firm finger towards the refresher.

Raven popped up from beneath her covers like a daisy. She knew what that tone of voice meant and was not keen on pissing her master off before their day had even started. Thus, Raven crawled from her bed and yawned her way into the shower.

Twenty minutes later she emerged, a towel wrapped around her middle. "What are we doing today?" she asked, sitting on her bed. Raven needed to know so she could put on the right clothing, among other things.

Eeth had procured a simple breakfast in the meanwhile and had laid it out on the small table at the window. Pouring both of them some tea, he said calmly, "We will confront the arms dealers you discovered yesterday and threaten to hand them over to law enforcement unless they tell us what we need to know about the royal family's whereabouts."

"For real!" Raven exclaimed, jumping up from her bed. "We're going to help Maris too, right? I mean, if we can?"

"If we can," said Eeth. "This is not part of our mission mandate, padawan. When I have to intervene in the lives of people in the course of a mission, I try to make sure that it is not to their disadvantage, and if I can help them, I will."

Raven knew that, but it was one of those things that would be easier to do in theory than in practice. Still, she trusted Eeth's judgement and therefore, did not question it.

"In any case," Eeth continued, "finding the royal family will be our top priority. Now, I will need to know a few things before we can plan concrete steps. First of all, would you be able to find their house on your own?"

"Of course, I was paying attention in case I needed to find my way back for some reason," Raven boasted, proud of herself.

She fished the datapad from her pack and got to work mapping out the most efficient route.

"973 Eros Lane," Raven announced a minute later, handing the datapad to Eeth. "It will take about ten minutes to get there from the cafe area. I could meet Maris after school and suggest acting as her backup? She was afraid of these men, master, so I don't think she would say no if I offered. But, and although I'm totally scary and all, I don't think I will be intimidating enough to bully the whereabouts of the royal family out of them, even if I bust in, saber blazing." Raven was giving him a smile that was all teeth as she contemplated the likelihood of even being allowed in the same room when all this went down, let alone being allowed to bust in with her lightsaber.

Eeth raised his eyebrows.

"Just to make one thing very clear," he said firmly, "you are not going to bust in anywhere. If there is any busting in required, Lakhri and I will be the ones doing it. Now, do you know if the place has a back entrance?"

Raven nodded, taking his rebuke in stride; she had expected as much, after all.

"I could see straight through the home from the front window. All of the windows are barred, so I assume that the one door I could see from the front is probably locked or has a security device of some sort. But there was more to the house than I could see at the time, so there could be more entry points," she answered, managing to curb her enthusiasm. For now.

Eeth nodded. "Alright. I was not looking for entry points for us as much as for exit points for them," he explained. "If I bust in with my lightsaber and they simply run out the back door, we will not have gained much. That means two things. First, I will have to take a weapon with a wider range, much as I detest it, and second, Lakhri will have to make sure no one gets out the back. We will need him, for a number of reasons. My plan is to blackmail these men into telling us what they know about the royal family. I will promise not to give them away to the police in exchange for information. Of course, they will have to be detained until we get hold of the royal family; first, to make sure that the information they gave us is truthful, and second, to prevent them from plotting on us or moving the royals. So, Lakhri will have to bring the palace guards to detain them for interrogation as long as we are gone. Is that clear so far?"

"Yes, master, it's a really good plan. About Maris, though … It's just that if these men – or her uncle, for that matter – find out that she was the one responsible for leading us there, she could be in serious trouble." Raven frowned. "I don't want her to suffer just so we can find the royal family."

"Yes, and rightly so," Eeth replied. "I will ask Lakhri to have her put in protective custody. She will be treated well, of course, but her relatives need not know that. It should avert any suspicions they might have about her complicity with us. It will look as if you merely exploited her – which you do, in a way, I am afraid to say. – So, you are going to meet Maris at her school and ask to join her. The main purpose of this is to make sure that these people's plans haven't changed. If they have, you will contact me. If not, I will follow in a rented speeder. Lakhri will guard the back entrance and will hopefully organise a squadron of palace guards to inconspicuously wait somewhere nearby with a vehicle that is large enough to hold the arms dealers. How many of them were there, by the way?"

"Six others: two Whookiees, one Dug, two humans and one being with tentacles coming out of his head. But – Maris will be reunited with her family when we are gone, right?" she asked, not feeling so good about the fact that she was exploiting the girl.

"Unless said family behaves very stupidly and get themselves arrested, yes," Eeth replied gently. "There must be other family members than that uncle of hers, anyway. I do not want to make life difficult for your friend. It rather seems as if it already is, though. I will do my best to figure out a way to provide her family with a living that does not involve criminal activities while they are in custody, I promise you that. Alright?"

While the Jedi were certainly not able to cure the galaxy of all its evils and help every individual they met, they did feel a certain obligation to care for those who willingly or unwillingly became involved in their missions. Eeth was going to make sure that Maris did not suffer unduly from her unwitting involvement with their quest for the royal family.

"I know you will, I'm not meaning to make out like you wouldn't do your best to help her within reason. I guess that I just feel bad for having to take advantage of her," Raven admitted.

"That is completely understandable," said Eeth. "Unfortunately, it is unlikely to be the last time this happens. It is one of the drawbacks of our career, I am afraid."

He gave her a brief smile and asked, "Are you clear about our plan, then?"

"Yes. I meet with Maris after school and then, if nothing changes, I accompany her to Eros Lane where Lakhri will be guarding the exits and palace guards will be waiting with enforcement speeders to collect what we round up." Raven looked at him, her expression turning contemplative.

"I'm guessing you want me to wait outside… But, are you planning to go in alone?"

"I will have Lakhri to guard my back," Eeth replied. "Even if he was unable to for some reason, though, these few men are no match for me. They will not be able to do much with their blasters in such a confined space. You will wait on the street, hand at the hilt of your saber, in the unlikely event that any of them gets past me. In that case, you will try to drive them back in. That is all you are going to do until I call you."

He gave her a pointed look. "No unauthorised heroics on your part, or you will spend the remainder of the mission with Lakhri at the palace," he added sternly.

"Yes, master," came the reluctant reply. It was one thing to be outside waiting, and another entirely to be exiled to the palace; that wasn't going to happen, not this mission.

"Good," Eeth said severely. "I would hate for a repeat performance of what happened on Fenesteer. And I know you are capable of doing better at obeying your orders than you did then. Now, we want all of this to be as inconspicuous as possible. Ideally, nobody will realise that Lakhri is not the only Jedi on Larivan. That means we will try to handle this silently and to prevent the arms dealers from communicating with anyone. And, of course, before we do any of that, we need to lose Dartan's man. It is not the same one as yesterday, but I am pretty sure the person who is currently lounging against the lantern post in front of the hotel is waiting for none other than us. Losing him, but making it seem like a failure on his part and not like some particular skill or achievement on our part, will be our job for this morning. While I call Lakhri, you may start thinking about how to go about this. Try to come up with places that will either make it appear easy to lose someone or that will be difficult for him to follow us to."

Without waiting for Raven's reply, he pushed his empty plate away and unhooked the comlink from his belt, punching in Lakhri's code.

Eeth's reminder of the Fenesteer debacle had the padawan cringing. Sitting up a little straighter, Raven listened carefully to his instructions and nodded an understanding. Moments later, she was busy thinking of ways of losing their stalker while Eeth was talking to Lakhri.

It was hard not to eavesdrop as he was sitting right there, and she wanted to hear what Lakhri had to say about their plan! Raven also knew her master would not be thrilled to hear she had come up with nothing from her time spent thinking.

"We could lead him into the cafe sector. It's absolutely packed over lunch time and they would have a hard time moving, let alone following us. Or you could always incapacitate him, using a Force suggestion that he needs to be elsewhere, or we could just hogtie him under a bridge for a few hours," the padawan suggested when Eeth had finished speaking with Lakhri. Okay, so the latter suggestion had been a little dire, but still.

"No hogtying," Eeth said decisively. "I do not want anybody to guess that we knew he was on to us, if at all possible. A Force suggestion would be a last resort; Dartan will want to know the reason why he suddenly felt a strong urge to go home when he was supposed to be following us, and it would seem pretty suspicious. The cafe sector might be a very good option. Another option I had been thinking about is getting ourselves admitted to a hospital. If we pretended that you had a sudden bout of illness or an accident, I could…"

"Wait a moment," Raven interrupted him. "Why do I have to be the sick person?" she wanted to know, as irrelevant as that question might be.

Eeth frowned. "It does not matter in the slightest who the sick person is," he said severely. "Assuming that it was you, I would bring you in and he would have a hard time following us inside. If we do not emerge any time soon, he would probably assume that they are keeping you there for treatment. In the meanwhile, we could make an easy exit through a back entrance. And the plan would work just the same if it was me feigning illness, so there is no need to split hairs. What do you think?"

Slightly placated, Raven gave this some consideration.

"I think that anyone would be crazy to willingly wait around for medical attention. Although, being hospitalised would undoubtedly make us look like less of a threat."

"There is that," Eeth replied, "and at the hospital, our pursuer will inevitably get to a point where he cannot follow us. I mean, what excuse could he possibly give for following us into a medical ward or examination room? Nonetheless, we will try the cafe sector first. It is close to this area and less hassle. Besides, it was your idea and it was a good one. I want you to gain experience, after all. We will make it look as if I am about to give you a treat. And then we try to get lost. If nothing else works, you go to the ladies' room, I will do the rest and we meet at a place that we have agreed on previously. If all that fails for some reason, we can still go for the hospital option. There will be more than enough time left. Alright?"

"Alright, although you needn't _pretend_ to give me that treat, just saying," Raven said, but when Eeth just gave her a stony look, she continued. "Alright, alright, no need to get prickly. Anyway, maybe the guy will just get sick of waiting if we go back to sleep for another few hours first?" she suggested, yawning widely and stretching back on her bed.

"Up," said Eeth firmly.

Grumpy… thought Raven, but got to her feet.

"We do not know how our plans will work out and how much time we will need," continued Eeth. "Besides, I want to look in on a few traders and pretend to collect business information first. If we get lost first thing in the morning, it will look suspicious. Let us get going and give our pursuer something to do."

Half an hour later, Eeth and Raven were leading their pursuer into a small cluster of traders where they would begin their plan. It was arduous work, not that Raven had expected it to be otherwise. That said, the beauty of being undercover as the apprentice of a Republican trader (even a strict one) was that standing stock-still and appearing the epitome of Jedi serenity and discipline would look out of place. So, Raven figured that she could get away with a little fidgeting and some minor complaints.

Eeth, unfortunately, had to agree. The fidgeting and whining were getting on his nerves, but it would have been out of character for Raven to behave like a Jedi padawan and out of character for him to admonish her to behave like one – although, of course, a minimum degree of restraint could be expected even from a trader's apprentice… and the mildly reproving look he gave her at some point said as much.

After a few meetings that gradually led them closer to the cafe sector, they emerged onto a busy street, with Dartan's man inconspicuously tying a bootlace next to the shop they had been visiting.

"I think both of us need a break," Eeth said in the same jovial tone of voice he had used the day before when Raven had met him in front of the hotel. "I'm sorry these talks are so boring, but we will be finished in Lossola soon. Promise. Let's go to the cafe sector and have a snack and a drink, shall we?"

"Yeah, let's do it!" came the exuberant reply. To anyone listening, her behaviour would seem entirely appropriate, yet Raven was quite sure that Eeth knew that she was using this opportunity to tease him, just a little bit. She wasn't about to press her luck, though, and so she refrained from skipping alongside him.

"How about here?" she asked pointing to a stand that sold skewered fruits and some brown porridge-like soup.

"Not soup again! Let's look around some more," Eeth proposed, hoping to make it into a more densely packed section of the sector. Their tracker was only a few meters behind them. Unfortunately, the crowds of people were not quite thick enough to get lost easily, especially given Eeth's height which was well above that of the average Larivanian.

"Let us split up," Eeth finally whispered into Raven's ear when he felt that looking at any further food stalls would appear suspicious. "Make it seem as if you need the restrooms while I have a look at one of the shops. He will be sure to follow me. As soon as he is out of your sight, you move up a level and leave towards Bleak Street. There is a shuttle station at the other end of the street. You just hide between the people and wait. I will use the Force to disguise myself and meet you there."

Raven understood and she conveyed as much across their bond without breaking character.

She did as bade and made her way into the refresher, waited a few minutes, and then she exited. After a quick glance around confirmed that their pursuer had indeed stuck with Eeth, she took off for the lift that would take her to the next level. It was much easier to see everything from the glass lift, and although Raven kept herself concealed amongst the other shoppers, she could clearly pick out the tall Zabrak and his increasingly frustrated tag-along. Sympathising with his frustration, Raven exited the lift, quickly making her way to the crowded shuttle station Eeth had described.

In the meanwhile, Eeth entered a gift shop, disappeared between a few narrow shelves at the back of the shop, used the Force to cloak his presence and left the shop unnoticed while his pursuer still looked around the shelves. He could not have pulled this off with Raven; her ability to maintain her focus was not yet advanced enough, especially when she was distracted.

"No, Ma'am, I'm waiting for my mentor," Raven ensured the small woman who had seen her 'lost' in the crowd and become concerned. Raven did her best to reassure her and accepted the piece of what she hoped was candy gratefully before excusing herself; she could sense Eeth's presence somewhere nearby the station but could not yet see him. Sighing, she moved to a spot that was not quite as densely crowded, but where she would still be easily hidden, and kept searching.

Raven had used her time waiting as best she could, but she had not managed to find out anything they did not already know about the royal family and their lack of popularity. Thankfully, it wasn't long before Eeth showed up, wrapped in his raincoat and nearly unrecognisable.

"Here I am," he said pretend-cheerfully. "Sorry I let you wait; we nearly missed our bus. Let's hurry."

"You were gone forever," said Raven in an equally pseudo ticked-off tone, but that was all the time she got to hold up her end of their charade as Eeth pulled her towards a random speeder shuttle that was already quite crowded and about to leave. They jumped aboard, heading towards the South-Eastern part of town that hosted a number of factories. Their pursuer was nowhere to be seen; presumably, he was still searching the gift shop and its surroundings.

Once they had arrived at the terminus, they spent some time choosing a nice place to eat lunch, then wandered around the district to get a feel for this end of town; not that there was much here either of them wanted to see in particular, although Raven did find a small out-of-the-way place that sold aromatic oils.

It was just going three in the afternoon when they sat down on a bench in a secluded park area. It was at that moment that Raven remembered the treat she had gotten from the woman at the station and pulled it from her pocket.

"Apparently, I am not supposed to eat more than half of this at any one time... Do I want to know why?" Raven asked and held it up for him to look at.

"Possibly because it has side effects on humanoids," Eeth said, brows furrowed as he examined the sweet closely.

"I assume," he said, "that this is deish. The taste is similar to chocolate and it is very popular on the Outer Rim. It is also a mild drug. You had better not eat any of it, especially at such a critical point in our mission. It might make you drowsy or carefree."

Raven nodded, pocketing it for later; she had plans for it now…

Glancing at his wrist chronometre, Eeth said, "We had better pick up a speeder at the speeder rental across the street now. I will drop you off near the school and will head on to Eros Lane to find a good hiding place. Once you are there and Maris has entered the building, I will barge in with my saber, as you have so aptly phrased it. If I did it before Maris enters, that would make her look suspicious and we want to avoid that."

"Yes," Raven agreed and followed him into the street.

* * *

"I'll contact you if anything changes," Raven told Eeth upon exiting their speeder by the school's shuttle stop.

"You had better do so," said Eeth seriously, "because if you neglect your safety another time during this mission, I will send you to join Lakhri at the palace. May the Force be with you."

* * *

School was out at three in the afternoon on Larivan, and so it was not long before Raven's friends arrived.

"Raven!" Emily greeted exuberantly.

"Where's your uniform?" Maris asked, noticing her casual clothing and moving up to greet the others.

"I didn't have school today. We have to leave tonight so I came to say goodbye, and thank you for being so kind to me."

Savan cocked her head to the side. "You're leaving already? But you've only been here a few days!"

"We have all the information we need. But I was hoping maybe we could all meet up tonight and hit the arcades again. We aren't leaving until late tonight so I will have time if you guys are free?"

Maris grinned and the others followed suit.

"Cool beans! Same time as last night, then?" Emily proposed.

"I'll see you all there," Raven confirmed as Emily, Savan and Jess boarded their shuttle.

The padawan glanced at Maris, who remained waiting for her shuttle to arrive. She looked as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders, and it tugged at the girl's heartstrings.

"Hey, I have an idea … I know you are not keen on doing this last errand for Poss, so I was thinking it would help if I came along. Don't worry, I won't go in with you, of course," she assured her friend quickly. "I'll just wait outside until you're done, would that help any?"

Maris narrowed her eyes at the small human. This was not an offer she had anticipated, not even from her close friends, so she was skeptical. However, as much as the Zabrak was not comfortable trusting the kindness of strangers given the work she did, Raven was right: she really was scared of these men.

Her hesitation was all Raven needed, and she jumped on it. "I won't get you into trouble, promise. I'll just wait outside and we can go to the arcade together like we did last night, okay?"

"If you want. I wasn't expecting anyone to offer, 'tis all…" Maris shrugged, attempting to appear unfazed. "Poss's goons are not exactly pleasant company, so I can hardly blame my friends for wanting to steer clear."

"I wouldn't blame them either," agreed Raven.

"So why are you willing, then?"

Raven did not reply to this immediately, and so Maris felt the need to further explain herself. "No offence, but I'd wager that you lied about your age in order to tag along with us. Which is cool and all; you're interesting and good company, so I spoke up on your behalf when the others said as much."

"Hey, no lies, pinky swear," Raven said, feeling rotten about saying that as she had uttered several lies, they just weren't about her age. She held up her little finger and smiled in an effort to put her friend at ease. "I'm twelve. I was born on Chine, you might want to look that up some time," Raven said, but before Maris could comment, their shuttle arrived, and the pair jumped aboard.

During the trip, Maris grilled Raven on her home planet of Chine, as well as asking a few more probing questions on her role as an apprentice trader. This meant Raven was forced to make stuff up on the fly! Thankfully, she was able to use a lot of the truth and only had to fabricate a little.

Fifteen minutes later, the two exited the shuttle at the end of Eros Lane and began walking towards the house. Raven imagined Lakhri would be around somewhere, but she did not dare look in case Maris noticed her distractedness; this girl did not miss much, and Raven didn't want to give her further reason to be suspicious of her or her story.

"Hey for good luck," Raven said, pulling the deish from her pocket and offering it up.

"Candy?" Maris chuckled. "You sure you're twelve?" But before Raven could reply, and much to the padawan's delight, Maris tossed the entire thing into her mouth. If it worked as well on Zabrak as it did on other humanoids, she should be feeling pleasantly sedated by the time the shit hit the fan.

When they arrived at the front gate, Maris took a moment to pull herself together.

"If I'm not out in twenty minutes, could you contact someone on this list for me? Doesn't matter who," she asked, quickly sending the details to Raven's datapad. Maris trusted Poss, but she also knew that he was up to his neck in this mess and didn't want to get him into trouble any more than she thought him able to pull any strings with these men. She took a step towards the house, only to pause. "Hey, thanks and all." And with that she strode off for the front door, leaving Raven feeling like some sort of evil mastermind for drugging and deceiving her friend.

Eeth had been well hidden behind a couple of trash cans around the next corner, his presence cloaked by the Force. It would have needed an experienced Jedi to sense or see him. When Maris had gone in, he quickly and silently made his way towards Raven, staying out of sight from the windows. Although Raven was not an experienced Jedi, she did share a training bond with Eeth, and given that he was not actively blocking her, she sensed his approach.

"Anything I need to know before I go in?" Eeth whispered.

"Yes, master, two things," Raven said quietly while maintaining the look of someone simply waiting around for a ride or something. "Firstly, I gave Maris the deish. I'm hoping it just sedates her and doesn't knock her out cold because she kinda ate the whole thing! Secondly, she gave me a list of names to contact in case of trouble." Raven messed with her datapad, looking casual, and sent the information to Eeth.

Eeth threw a look at the list, identified "Poss's" full name and contact details and commed Lakhri immediately. It would be better to detain Poss, or he might either cause trouble or end up being targeted by some of the other smugglers who might think he was behind their companions' disappearance.

When that was accomplished, he pointed at a speeder that was parked nearby.

"Take cover behind that speeder," he instructed curtly. "There might be shooting, and I do not want to risk you being hit. Emerge only when I call you."

"Yes master," Raven replied, absolutely hating the fact that she was forced into hiding while Eeth took all the risks. Quick to obey, the padawan inconspicuously made her way behind the parked speeder he had pointed to and ducked. Raven knew she was supposed to watch the door in case anyone came out and try to herd them back, so she was relieved to discover that the gap beneath the speeder allowed her a perfect view of the front door and windows.

"Be safe, master, and take care of Lakhri," she sent through their bond as Eeth made his way towards the house.

Eeth sent her a quick burst of reassurance through their bond and made his way to the door, his right hand on the hilt of his lightsaber and his left on a blaster. He detested blasters, but sometimes – for example when you wanted to prevent people from making a getaway – weapons with a wide range were necessary.

The door was locked from the inside, but he heard voices: a girl, sounding fearful and slightly sluggish, and a man, sounding angry and threatening. In one swift movement, he drew his saber, cut open the lock and kicked in the door. The men jumped up at the sight of a cloaked figure with a lightsaber who was barring their exit. Before they could react, however, Eeth had grabbed the Zabrak girl, who was in the hold of a large man with a knife, thrown her behind himself and disarmed the man.

"The back entrance is guarded by a second Jedi knight," he said in an authoritative voice that carried through the room. "I strongly advise any of you against trying to fight us."

There was a moment's pause. Then one of the men drew a blaster. Before he had a chance to shoot, Eeth had produced his own blaster and had neatly shot the man's weapon out of his hand. The man yelled in pain and folded up, cradling his bleeding hand against his chest.

"That was a bad idea," Eeth said coolly. "Before you indulge in further bad ideas, let me propose a deal to you."

Five minutes later, the men, who had been remarkably sensible, had been disarmed and bound with handcuffs by Eeth and Lakhri. Maris was sitting with them, looking rather dazed. Lakhri decided to ask one of the palace doctors to have a look at her later. For now, she did not appear to be in acute danger.

"We will do the questioning here," Eeth told Lakhri. " I would rather not be seen near the palace if I can help it. Can you fetch Raven and watch our backs?"

Lakhri nodded and made his way to the door, sticking out his head and beckoning for Raven to come in and do it fast. Luckily, Eros Lane was a pretty deserted place at this time of the day.

Despite her groggy state, Maris' head whipped up at the mention of Raven's name. "Wait, she has nothing to do with this. She's just a friend from school who is waiting for me, is all!" she pleaded with Eeth. Maris might be too far gone to save, but she was not about to drag anyone down with her.

"I am afraid she is more than that," Eeth said calmly. "She is my apprentice. You have been set up." He briefly gripped the girl's shoulder and sent her a surge of reassurance through the Force. Lakhri would explain things to her later. For now, it was more important to protect Maris by keeping up appearances in front of these men.

"Set up, what the hell is…" But before Maris could finish that statement, she noticed Raven enter the front door, trailing behind the tiny guy and carrying a weapon the same as the other two! She gave her friend a look that said she had just put all the pieces together and was not at all pleased.

Raven took that look in stride; she deserved that much and then some, after all. Given that a disguise was not necessary at this point, the padawan was finally able to relax a little, which for her meant that she dropped her carefree facade and stood still by Lakhri and Eeth, not looking at anyone in particular, yet taking in the room and its details.

Eeth turned towards the men and said calmly, "As you may have gathered, we are Jedi. We have been asked by the legitimate government of Larivan to find the royal family and escort them to Coruscant, and that is what we intend to do. If you give us truthful information about their whereabouts and the reasons for their disappearance, you will be kept in custody until we have retrieved them and will then be released, without involvement of the security forces. You will also be offered positions in the civil service, should the arms trade turn out to be too risky for your liking when the royal family is gone. However, should any of you make an attempt to lie to us or set us up, I will make sure that person ends up in prison and stays there for a very long time. These are your choices. Now, does anybody have anything to tell us?"

The look he gave the men was uncannily similar to the one he used to give Raven when asking her to own up to some kind of misbehavior or other, and the effect it had was remarkably similar, too. The men lowered their eyes and started fidgeting. Finally, one of them said, "We don't know where the royal family are exactly, but we know that Dartan is behind their disappearance."

"Yeah," said one of his companions. "She's been bribed for years by the weapons dealers, shielding them from prosecution, and the whole scheme has been protected by the king. That's what's made Dartan so wealthy. Now the largest rings of smugglers have blackmailed her into using her connections to hide the royal family. They want them reinstated, and she's working towards that goal. It's in her own best interest because if they face trial, her dirty secrets will be made public and she will lose everything."

"And do you have any idea where she is hiding them?" Eeth asked sharply.

There was a moment's pause. Then the Whookiee made a number of Whookiee noises which, fortunately, both Eeth and Lakhri had been trained to understand.

"I thought so," Eeth said curtly. "The Eastern islands."

Between himself and Lakhri, they managed to extract further information from the men. None of them knew specifics, but three of them had already been to the Eastern islands and could tell them quite a lot about the topography and about likely hiding places. It seemed that the caves on Shoinsha, the main island, were the most plausible option. It also seemed that the islands were dangerous to navigate due to treacherous rocks and currents and that there was only a handful of experienced navigators who dared to do so and who currently refused their services, allegedly due to storms.

Eeth had a strong sense that the men were being truthful. Two or three of them even seemed quite happy at the prospect of leaving their criminal life behind. The arms trade had been quite respectable on Larivan in former times, but with membership in the Republic approaching, it was becoming increasingly risky.

"Alright," Eeth finally said. "If any further questions arise, you will be asked to answer them while you are in custody. For the moment, I know enough."

The palace guards' speeder, a windowless truck, was already waiting, and Eeth and Lakhri ushered their captives in, careful to avoid rousing attention. Eeth said a quick goodbye to Lakhri and then led Raven back into the building.

"We should leave for the Eastern islands immediately," he said crisply. "We will not return to the hotel to pick up our luggage. We would run the risk of encountering one of Dartan's spies there, and besides, we would lose precious time. The disappearance of these men could be discovered any time and considered suspicious enough to warrant moving the royals."

"Agreed," Raven replied distractedly as she watched a rather sleepy-looking, albeit pissed-off Maris stumble into the van. She tried to catch her friend's eye but she was mostly getting lost in the group, making it almost impossible for Raven to see Maris without anyone spotting the exchange.

"Lakhri will explain things to her," Eeth said quietly. "And you might have a chance to talk to her when we are back. Now it is of paramount importance that we focus on getting to the Eastern islands. Let us fetch our speeder. You read the map, I navigate. We will pick up some provisions once we are out of town. Are you ready?"

Of course Raven knew that Lakhri would do his best to explain things to Maris, but it was hard to put the betrayed look she had received from the Zabrak out of her mind. Well, there wasn't much she could do about it now, and so the padawan looked up at Eeth and forced a smile.

"Ready," she replied, and Raven wasn't just saying that, she really was ready for this. The next part of this mission was going to be a little more challenging for them, or so Eeth explained once they were inside the speeder. Raven was up for that. This was her duty, the life she had chosen, and it made her feel like she was making progress towards her goal of knighthood each time Eeth put her in charge of something or allowed her to work unsupervised. Thus, the padawan grabbed her datapad and started plotting their course.


	6. Chapter 6

Eeth took the wheel of their rented speeder and waited for Raven to finish plotting directions to the shore. They were going to take a trip to the Eastern islands and hunt down the royal family, and they were going to have to do this the hard way. Shuttles or their starship would get them there much faster but they would also be detected well in advance; this might give the royal family an opportunity to disappear once again or, given that they were being hidden by arms dealers, it might lead to an all-out fight. In order to avoid that, Eeth and Raven were going to try and make it to the islands by boat, undetected.

Eeth had asked Lakhri to inform their hostel that he and Raven had followed an invitation to the neighboring city of Lunshula for a few days. That way, their luggage would hopefully wait for them in their room. Since both of them had taken care not to leave anything that might reveal their identity, Eeth felt that this was the most sensible course of action.

At the outskirts of Lossola, he pulled over at a shop. Raven used the time Eeth was getting supplies to stretch and walk around. She hated long shuttle rides; it meant far too much sitting still!

Eeth returned after ten minutes with several bags of fruit, biscuits, water bottles, batteries and other items. "This will have to do," he said, restarting the engine. "We will need about ten hours to get to the shore. I will drive for about six hours now and then we will rest until daybreak."

"You could always let me drive some of the way," Raven suggested. "That way I won't get bored and you won't get road blindness," she added matter-of-factly.

"No," Eeth replied calmly. "Even on Larivan, you are underage to drive. And I have never suffered from road blindness, so it is safe to assume that this trip will be no exception."

"Who will notice? I haven't seen another speeder even pass us yet," she said, bored already and they still had five and a half hours to go. "Besides, we would be more efficient as a team that way as we could drive a solid ten hours instead of having to stop so you can rest. Friends don't let friends drive tired, and all," Raven repeated one of Coruscant's many traffic slogans, a very slight grin on her face.

"Padawan, this is not open for debate," snapped Eeth. "We will stop after six hours because there is no point in arriving in Stavasset in the middle of the night, not because I will be too tired to drive. And we are not 'friends'."

"You're not my friend?" Raven asked, her face falling. "Why not? Don't you like me? I like you. Well, most of the time."

"Of course I like you," Eeth said curtly. "Do not be ridiculous. There are numerous types of relationships in the world other than friendship that involve liking people. Being a master to a silly padawan comes to mind."

"I'm so telling Lakhri you said that about him," she shot back, arms folded in mock-irritation.

"It is not Lakhri I was talking about and you know it," Eeth said firmly.

Raven just looked at him, and then she looked back at the road. Eeth's failure to catch her efforts at humour often turned out to be more of a source of amusement than the joke itself. Still, she wasn't quite at the stage where paying out on him over that was acceptable as it was for Lakhri, and so she bit her lip.

The two traveled in silence for another two hours before Raven's boredom morphed into restlessness. "I don't think I can sit for another three and a half hours. Do you think we could pull over and stretch for a moment?"

"No," Eeth said plainly. "In case you haven't noticed, we are on a mission and in a hurry."

"If we were in a hurry you'd let me drive," Raven thought. However, she had the prudence to keep such antagonising comments to herself. Instead, she pulled out her data pad and started going over their route manually; Force, that she was resorting to this voluntarily meant only one thing: she was bored out of her mind!

Another two hours passed by in which Raven exhausted all means of entertainment. She sighed, looking over at Eeth with a piteous expression. When this got no reaction, she sighed again, only this time it was a little longer, more pained and increasingly grating on Eeth's nerves. Eeth had extremely little patience with padawans who felt a need to express how much they were suffering from boredom. As long as their problem was nothing worse than boredom, he simply did not want to hear about it.

"Padawan, if you are bored, consider your choices," he said in a voice of ominous calm. "You may make an effort at enduring the remainder of this trip quietly, without whining, sighing and fidgeting. Or you may spend the remainder of this trip on a well-spanked bottom, which would very quickly put your current ordeal into perspective. We might even explore the local flora. The dark-green bushes along the road look as if their branches would do very well, although the trees that line the creeks might work also."

Raven gave him a put-upon expression. "How is spanking me going to make sitting in this speeder less arduous? That will just make it worse because then I will be bored _AND _uncomfortable. How is that any sort of solution or change in perspective if it just makes everything worse?"

"Because the pain will seem so much more acute than the boredom, the latter will hardly matter any more," Eeth replied matter-of-factly. "It might not be a solution to your problem, but it is a perfect solution to mine. I happen to think that long speeder rides are not made any better by whiny, fidgety padawans."

Raven slumped into her seat, defeated. It wasn't like Eeth had ever had much patience for her fidgety nature in the past so, although she didn't like his response, it hardly came as a surprise.

A few minutes later, the incessant rain lessened a little and Eeth could make out in front of him a little hill in the swamps that looked as if it would carry them.

"We will stop here for ten minutes, eat something and relieve ourselves," Eeth informed Raven as he descended onto the hill. "But no more than ten minutes. I want to make use of the remaining daylight."

Raven's face lit up at hearing this and she could barely contain her exuberance.

"Ten minutes, got it. Could I walk around for that time and eat when we have to get back into the speeder?" the padawan suggested. Raven had heeded Eeth's warning and managed to keep a lid on her impatience and boredom so far, but she was close to losing patience with this part of their mission.

"You may," Eeth conceded. "But when we continue our trip, I expect you to show a little more self-restraint. I will need you to focus on giving directions. It is getting dark, and I want to avoid settlements if at all possible."

Raven frowned.

"A little more self-restraint?! But master, we have been travelling for hours! At least you get to drive, I don't get to do anything but read and stare out the window," she complained, not at all pleased with what she perceived as being told off, however mildly, for finding this difficult. From Eeth's point of view, he was not actually telling her off for finding this difficult, but for being so impatient about it.

"You could have meditated, or done some reading on the Eastern islands, or studied maps, or slept," he told her sternly. "I know you are longing to stretch your legs. So am I, but you do not hear me complaining."

"You're not complaining because you have something fun to do: drive!" thought Raven. Outwardly, however, she crossed her arms and huffed. That was about the extent of which she was willing to express her displeasure over this, considering his earlier threats. Sitting was bad enough; sitting on a sore ass would be decidedly worse!

Eeth landed the speeder on the hilltop. The rain was still pouring down, and it was getting a little darker; presumably, they were nearing sunset although it was hard to tell with all the clouds.

"You may walk around, but be mindful of your surroundings," said Eeth. "And do not stray too far. I do not know whether the local wildlife is entirely friendly."

Raven was not quite stir-crazy enough to disobey him outright and take off. That said, she was planning to spend every second of her time running, jumping, turning cartwheels, standing on her head; anything other than sitting still. Which was exactly how Raven spent their break.

She tumbled, sprang and flipped her way around the outer edge of the clearing until she came upon some strange-looking vines and gave them a quizzical once over. They had a very colourful, exotic-looking flower but upon closer inspection, she could make out tiny needle-like spines sprouting like hairs from the heart shaped leaves. "Nasty," she said, sensing Eeth's approach.

Eeth joined her and said, "This looks like a variant of garth ivy. It has spread across many planets. You had better not touch it; it is extremely hard to remove the spines and they often cause allergic reactions. Now get back to the speeder. We need to continue our trip."

Once they were inside the vehicle, Eeth gave Raven a bread roll, a piece of fruit and a bottle of water and took off again. Deciding that Raven needed something to keep her mind off the boredom of the trip and that they might as well use the occasion for educational purposes, he started talking to her about comparative botany. He explained how one could discover, on a planet with an unknown flora, which plants might sting. After all, evolution worked in similar ways everywhere, and similar environments would almost always bring about organisms with comparable defense mechanisms.

Raven truly appreciated Eeth's efforts at keeping her mind occupied. After all, he did not have to try helping her at all; he could have simply ordered her to meditate or be quiet. The two chatted for another hour or so about the theory of evolution before they finally approached tonight's destination.

"Here, master," she said pointing to a section on the map. "Go left at 26:409:L9. That route will eventually lead directly to the port and has several designated rest areas along the way which we can stop at to sleep," she said, punching the coordinates into their onboard sat nav.

Eeth nodded. "Alright. One more hour of driving, and then we will stop to sleep a little."

They set their speeder down at a lonely rest stop that held little more than a public toilet and a water fountain. There, they slept a few hours and continued at daybreak. The early hour, to Eeth's satisfaction had the effect that his padawan slept during the rest of their trip until they reached the port of Stavasset, the only place likely to offer boats for rent.

"Let us find a map at a shop and eat breakfast," Eeth told Raven when he had parked the speeder near the central harbour. "After that, we will try to get our hands on a boat. But do not tell anyone where we are really going. If anybody asks, we are going fishing."

"Breakfast, map and don't tell anyone where we are going. Got it," Raven repeated quietly while darting around him a few times to work off some pent up energy. "You are getting slow in your old age," she teased him. It was just so good to be out of that freakin' speeder.

Stavasset was a fairly big place, and the houses along the main pier held many cafes and pubs. The place was conspicuously quiet, though, and several places were closed down. There was not a lot of traffic either; the occasional fishing boat was coming in, but the large trade vessels were all towed at the quai. Eeth bought a map of the coastline that was meant for the occasional fishing tourist. It did not cover the entire island sector and was not particularly detailed, but it was the best he could get. Not even the rank smell of bait coming from the shop could dampen Raven's exuberance at being freed from their speeder prison!

When that was taken care of, they escaped the rain into a small, friendly-looking cafe overlooking the harbor that offered a wide variety of breakfast dishes.

"Pick whatever you like," Eeth offered. "And remember, you are all excited about this fishing trip… in the rain."

"I will remember," Raven said, clicking her tongue at his reminder. She could not help the spring in her step, but she did take her time choosing something nice for breakfast. "Is the fishing spot very far to travel?" she asked curiously, keeping any conversation that could be overheard within the realms of their cover story.

"Oh no," Eeth said easily. "A boat ride of two hours, maybe, and then a bit of hunting around for the best place to fish. We will move out in the late afternoon if we manage to find a boat. Evenings and mornings are the best times to fish."

He went to the counter to order some more tea and ended up talking to the owner of the cafe, a resolute middle-aged woman, for a while. Then he returned to the table, looking thoughtful. "It seems to be impossible to hire a speedboat or a large cruiser at the moment," he said. "All booked by someone from Lossola, she said. Fishing boats are not a problem, but they are not built for moving far away from the beach. We will really need to rely on the Force for navigation, else this will be hopeless. And we will have to get out of sight of the city before we head for the islands."

"On the bright side, the smaller the boat, the harder it will be to detect," Raven pointed out. However, that also meant the rougher the ride, and the easier to sink… Raven had no doubt that her master already knew this, though, so instead of stating the obvious, she tried to think of other ways around their problem.

"Did the woman say who it was who hired out every single boat? Not that it's terribly hard to guess."

"As I said before," Eeth replied, eyebrows raised, "she said 'by someone from Lossola'. I hardly think she would tell a random stranger more than that, if she even knew. And we do not want to raise suspicions by asking probing questions."

"Maybe we could 'acquire' one of these boats, or ask about an underwater transport, like a bongo?" Now Raven's imagination was starting to take off; a bongo would be incredible! Then again, so would any S class aquatic vessel. Her mind wandered to the likelihood of finding such a thing on Larivan.

"I just told you we do not want to raise suspicions," said Eeth, somewhat severely, snapping Raven out of her daydreaming. "Trying to buy a speedboat for a simple fishing trip is hardly a good way to accomplish that. As for bongos, I doubt they are in great supply in this backwater place. No, a fishing boat it will be. I think it will be sufficient for our purposes. As soon as we have found the royal family, we will contact Lakhri and he will demand their extradition. He should have no problems obtaining freighters in order to take them to Lossola, or he might even bring our starship to Stavasset. With any luck, you will not have to endure another speeder ride."

Perhaps it was a little presumptuous on her part, but Raven had not given the prospect of a speeder ride home a second thought, as she had assumed Lakhri would arrive in their star cruiser to remove the royal family and that they would all leave together. In the starship! In hindsight, there were many reasons why they would be required to make that horrendous speeder trip back!

Raven kicked a pine cone along the road as she took in their surrounds. There were a few small specks on the horizon that could only be islands; it did not look that far from here, but was certainly far enough to make the notion of swimming ridiculous. Nope, it was a fishing boat or nothing, it would seem. They walked along in silence for a moment before something occurred to Raven. "If the family does not want to leave, and they will no doubt be heavily protected, how do you plan on getting them to come with us?" It was a fair enough question. Naturally, Raven could think of many ways that involved force, but as Jedi they were meant to find peaceful solutions when possible and she was curious to know what his ideas were.

"We will not try to remove them by force," Eeth replied. "That is not part of our mission. The newly elected government wants them exiled, and they will have to secure them and hand them over to us. We are merely helping to find them, which the government seems to have been unable or unwilling to do. Of course, once we present them with the royal family's whereabouts, they will have little choice unless they want to seriously undermine their chances of membership in the Republic. That said, what we ultimately do depends on the circumstances: how well they are guarded and how likely it is for them to escape while we call for reinforcement, for example."

At the end of the main harbour quai, a street led around the bay to a smaller harbour with many small jetties for fishing boats. It was difficult to walk here as the surfaces were slick with rain, and they took care to stay well away from the waterline. The sea was relatively quiet here, but the waves outside the harbour walls were high. After some inquiries, they found someone who was willing to rent them a fairly solid fishing boat with equipment for two days. Eeth did not know whether they would actually be back by then, but renting the boat for longer would have seemed suspicious. He received strict instructions not to drive out of sight of the coast line. They would just have to pretend, following the coast to the north and turning east as soon as they were out of sight of Stavasset.

"Well," Eeth said, giving Raven a slight smile from under his rainproof hood. "Are you ready to go, then?"

"Yes, master, I'm ready. Although I am rather pleased that I have seen how well you swim, because despite what the guy says, that boat doesn't look all too solid. You go first." She grinned at him, peering up at him from beneath her own rainproof hood.

Eeth realised that his padawan had no experience whatsoever with boats. Well, she would have to learn. "Contrary to appearances, this boat is going to carry us," he assured her. "It is going to be a rocky ride, though. You have to be careful not to overbalance when you get in. Try to jump right into the middle, do not panic when the boat starts rocking, find your balance immediately, and then sit down in the stern. I will untie the boat and follow."

Despite nodding at his instructions, the padawan hesitated for a moment. The thought of being out in the open ocean in this boat kinda freaked her out a bit, not that she was willing to admit to that! Thus, Raven peered over the edge, closed her eyes and jumped. She landed squarely in the middle as instructed, causing the boat to rock violently.

"Oh, yeah!" she whooped, opening her eyes to find that her feet were still where she had landed.

Eeth was pleased with how well Raven kept her balance, even when he jumped in. He started the engine; luckily, it was a silent, power cell-driven boat, which was ideal for fishing. And Eeth had brought more than enough spare power cells to last them for the trip to the islands and back.

He took them out of the bay, and immediately the sea became very stormy. Carefully maneuvering the waves, he steered them around the rocky ledge to the north of Stavasset bay, where they were out of sight from the port city, and took them into a sheltered cove.

"We cannot approach the islands during daytime," Eeth explained to Raven. "I will teach you how to manage the boat in the meanwhile. It will be a useful skill to acquire."

"You will?! Can you teach me how to jump waves like that, too?" Raven asked, ducking as a spray of water went over her head.

"Eventually," said Eeth. "We will start with basic navigation, and when you have mastered that, I will teach you to use the Force in order to detect currents and underwater obstacles."

He pushed the boat away from the shore with a long pole and said: "Now let us switch places, but…"

The moment those words left Eeth's mouth Raven was up from her spot and moving; the chance to pilot anything did not come around very often when you were twelve!

" … but careful!" snapped Eeth, who had not expected Raven to move before he had even finished giving instructions! "We have to move around each other simultaneously, or the boat will…"

Unfortunately, Raven was already unbalanced thanks to the sudden movement, add to that the fact that their weight was now also uneven… She grabbed on to the side but it was too late.

Eeth threw himself to the other side of the boat in order to keep it from capsizing, but his attempt was thwarted by the fact that his padawan went overboard with a huge splash. Hastily, he drew on the Force to keep the small boat from overturning and dumping him in as well. Heaving an exasperated sigh, he knelt down in the middle of the boat, distributing his weight as evenly as possible, and reached out with his arm to pull in his gasping and sputtering padawan. Luckily, the sea was only moderately rough in the small cove and RainTeX fabrics, in contrast to Jedi robes, did not soak up water, or she might have been in trouble.

"…overbalance," Eeth finished his sentence wryly.

Spitting out a mouthful of seawater, the padawan popped her head up, swore, and began treading water. She could not see over the edge of their boat, but did detect Eeth's hand and quickly grabbed it. Seconds later, the soaked apprentice was sitting in their boat looking a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, master. I didn't think that would happen," she admitted, pulling her raincoat off and emptying water from the pockets. She was drenched.

"Probably so," Eeth said sourly. "Small wonder, since you did not care to listen to my warnings. If you cannot wait for me to finish my instructions before you jump into things, I will leave you in a tent on the shore and go looking for the royals on my own."

"Well, you took too long to give them," Raven grumbled quietly while tossing her coat aside and pulling off a boot to empty it. She was not happy about ending up in the water anymore than she was about Eeth's threat.

"Excuse me?" Eeth asked, and his tone of voice was definitely irate now.

Raven flinched at his tone, but given that she was not sure if he'd actually heard her or not, wasn't about to repeat herself.

"Nothing," she covered while pulling on the now empty boot and going for the other one. She was careful not to lean too far; that was a lesson she only needed to learn once.

Eeth had heard her quite well, though, and he was not happy with her comment, nor with her evasive answer.

"Padawan," he said in a dangerously low voice. "I gave you instructions, and you did not take the time to listen. This is anything but my fault, and I will not tolerate any cheek about it. If you want me to prove to you that it is possible to apply a sound spanking in a fishing boat without sinking it, just go ahead with your smart remarks."

Raven stared at him for a moment, unsure if he was serious. Surely not? They would both end up in the drink! That said, he seemed to know a hell of a lot more about boats than she did; meaning, he had not yet ended up in the water and the unexpected pitch and roll of the boat was not catching him off guard. Deciding it best to err on the side of caution, Raven scooted onto the seat and started toweling herself off.

Eeth glared at her while taking the boat a little further offshore. He was not particularly worried about Raven catching a cold; despite the rain, it was warm, and their RainTeX fabrics dried quickly.

"Right," he said sternly. "If you would care to listen to all of my instructions, instead of only the first part. We will switch places now. And while we do so, it is important to move simultaneously around each other. You have seen what happens if the boat overbalances. The other option is for me to climb over you while you put your head down and scoot forward. Whatever you prefer. Now get going, or the day will be over before we get started."

"Grumpy," thought Raven. Aloud, however, she replied, "Yes, master. Just don't squash me!" She tossed the towel she had pulled from beneath her seat aside, ignoring his dig at her.

Eeth merely snorted at that suggestion. "Bow your head," he ordered and climbed over her in a heartbeat. "Now scoot forward to the other seat and take the rudder," he continued to instruct while rummaging around under his seat for a bowl with which he started scooping rainwater out of the bilge.

Raven took hold of the rudder and waited, watching Eeth curiously as he scooped out water to keep them afloat. It was at that moment that the padawan was suddenly aware that they were in a tiny boat in a very vast body of water. She looked towards the horizon, and then she reached out with the Force to see if she could sense any large aquatic animals.

"Master… Are there sea monsters on Larivan?" She kinda figured if there were, that they wouldn't be this close in, but then again, one never knew!

Eeth was tempted to roll his eyes. "Yes, and they prefer to eat small fishing boats with Jedi on them," he said with an unusual degree of sarcasm.

Raven's eyes widened for a split second, and then they narrowed. "That's not funny."

"Relax, padawan," said Eeth mildly. "If there was anything you need to be aware of, I would have told you. There are no large predators this near to the shore. The waters are far too shallow for them, and that includes the island region. Now, you pull the red rope in order to gain speed. DO NOT overdo it. The rudder is for steering. It is simple enough. Try it out at slow speed in the cove. Do not go too close to the shore, or we might get stuck on a sandbank. Once you are comfortable with this, we will drive out and I will teach you to navigate the waves."

Slightly placated, Raven took hold of the rope and gave it a good yank. The engine kicked over, and shortly after getting the hang of how it moved, she was starting to experiment with circles. Trying to make it do a skid was harder than Eeth made it look.

Eeth was content to let her get acquainted with the boat for a while, giving her a word of advice or warning every now and then. When he felt that she was confident navigating the boat in quiet water, he took her out into the rougher waters outside the cove.

"The most important thing to keep in mind is not to head into the waves at a straight angle," he told her. "The waves will break and the boat will take too much water. We might even sink that way. Ride the waves by taking a course that runs parallel to them or slightly diagonal. I will watch out for sandbanks and rocks through the Force and give you warning. Later, you will practice to recognise those yourself."

Nodding at his instructions, Raven did as he said and was soon having an absolute great time doing tiny hops over crests and dodging sand banks as Eeth called out warnings. This was the best fun, and she was ecstatic at finally being allowed to drive something without needing to steal the keys. Not that Raven had ever done that! Thought about it, yes, but actually done it, hell, no; Eeth would kill her.

Eeth finally told Raven to take them back to the small cove. They needed to eat something and take a rest before their trip to the islands. On the way there, he would teach Raven how to sense disturbances, such as underwater rocks and sandbanks, through the Force.

"There is no jetty here," he said, "so you just drive the boat straight onto the beach and we'll pull her up a little. The drawback to this method is that we will have to push her in and get wet feet when we reboard, but there is no alternative to that."

"I'll do it, I'm already soaked," Raven offered and steered them ashore.

"We will do it together," said Eeth. "The boat is too heavy for you alone."

Eeth pulled up the simple little tent he had brought in his pack so that they and their food could be safe from the rain for at least half an hour; he had continuously needed to scoop rainwater out of the boat and had to admit the weather was getting on his nerves – not that he would ever show it!

Twenty minutes later, the hungry padawan was rifling through Eeth's bag in search of something edible, thinking that resting was going to be hard when there was so much to look at.

It was four in the afternoon when they pushed the small boat out into the water again, waded after it and jumped in. Eeth let Raven have the rudder and told her to steer towards the islands now.

"By the time we are near enough to be seen, it will be dark", he said. "So it is high time you start practicing navigating through the Force, without relying on your eyes. I will take over when we reach the rocks that surround the islands, but for now, you should at least learn the basics. As you might have expected, this involves entering a meditative trance and then focussing on subtle shifts in the Force around and ahead of you."

Sighing, Raven shot him an impatient look.

"I'll try but I really suck at this stuff. I ran into a freakin' speeder door and almost broke myself the last time I tried Force-enhanced running. I only stopped because I sensed the driver!" she pointed out.

"And what," said Eeth levelly, fixing her with a firm look, "have I told you about your self-defeating attitude? I would have assumed you have learned your lesson, but I am more than willing to give you a reminder any time."

Raven frowned, pushing the rudder far left in order to turn them over the last wave break.

"It can hardly be considered a self-defeating attitude if it happens to be true. I do have faults, you know," she retorted.

Eeth's face turned darker than a thundercloud. "When I tell you it is a self-defeating attitude, then it is a self-defeating attitude," he snapped, causing Raven to inch back until her backside actually collided with the stern.

"The fact that you do not have perfect control yet of a skill you only started learning a short while ago does not mean that you 'suck', and I will not allow you to entertain such notions. You have made tremendous progress in everything involving meditation and Force control, and if I hear even the slightest hint of a negative attitude from you about this, you will spend the entire journey back to Coruscant in our room writing lines, and you will not sit comfortably while doing so. Have I made myself clear?"

Was he clear? Well, yes! But that didn't mean Raven had to agree with him or was happy with what he had said. She was not. Thus, she treated him to an irritated glare and continued working their boat, hoping that he would let the subject drop. After all, taking him on was not exactly what she had in mind if her point could be made passive-aggressively.

Silent glares were something that Eeth was not very tolerant with, and this was the last straw. He deftly stepped over Raven, took a seat at the rudder, grabbed her around the waist, threw her over the thwart in front of him with her bottom conveniently sticking up and swatted her smartly across the bottom with one of the small paddles that were lying around at the bottom of the boat for cases of engine malfunction. Her thin and wet pants offered little to no protection from the stinging assault. He added a second swat for good measure.

"Hey! Oww! OWWaiit!" Raven threw her hands back in and effort to protect herself from any more but the boat was rocking too much, and she needed her hands to steady herself.

Eeth used the Force to stabilise the boat, ignored her pleas and administered a third swat.

"Yeowch! Masterrrrr, I'm sorry! My pants are wet! It stings twice as bad!" she wailed.

"Yes, and rest assured you deserved that," Eeth informed her, dropping the oar. "You are perfectly able to do what I asked you to do. It might require a bit of an effort on your part but that has never been an excuse to shirk away from doing something you need to learn. Take your seat and start practicing."

The moment he released her, Raven scrambled to the other end as fast as she could without ending up overboard. If there was one thing she didn't want to do more than practice this Force technique, it was sit. Still rubbing at the sting, Raven wiped the brooding expression off her face, sat on her hands and started doing as told. It probably wasn't beyond her if she were being honest, it was just hard, and something that would take more effort than she wanted to muster right now… Such excuses rarely went over well with Eeth, though.

Eeth had her practice until the cloudy, rain-swept sky finally turned dark… or at least, a little darker than it had been anyway, given the heavy clouds and the constant rain. After what felt like hours and hours to Raven, he allowed her to stop scanning the ocean, took the rudder and set course towards the islands.

"We will land on the main island after nightfall," he said. "The boat is too small to show up on their radar but we need to stay out of sight of the harbour. Use your night vision goggles and find us a well-hidden landing place that is not too rocky. I would rather not lose the boat if at all possible."

The ride was rough and more than difficult; the boat scraped across rocks more than once, but was fortunately not seriously damaged. The island was approximately circular, four square kilometers in size, and seemed to consist of nothing but rocks. Eeth took them around the island to the side opposite the main harbour, which was less than straightforward. They completed about half a circle around the island, and he really did not care for making it a full circle.

"There, master," Raven finally pointed, lowering the goggles. "It's well hidden and doesn't have rocks or sandbanks that I can see or sense, but you might want to check on the latter," she said, not at all willing to trust the survival of their boat on her ability to detect hidden obstacles.

Eeth's gaze followed her pointed finger. "The place looks good," he said after a moment, "but the boat might be shattered by the waves before too long against the cliff face, and it will be seen from above during daytime. I had hoped for a quiet cove or sandy beach, but those seem to be non-existent. This island's shore consists of nothing but cliffs, with the exception of the main harbour."

Eeth tried to keep the boat steady and put on his own night vision goggles. "I think our best bet would be to leave the boat in one of the caves that dot the shoreline," he finally said. "Some of them even seem to slope upwards towards the back so that we could pull the boat up. It would be quite safe unless a storm comes up, and it would be invisible from the island. Unless the caves have an exit towards the island, we would have to swim, however. Do you feel up to that?"

"As long as you're sure about the whole no sea monsters part, then yes," Raven replied and stretched her awareness towards the Island, hoping to sense anything at all that could be useful.

Eeth steered them into a smaller cave on the eastern side, and as fate would have it, there was no exit so the pair would have to swim for it. Raven took a moment to braid her hair as it was fast turning into frizzy dreadlocks with all the salty water and rain.

Eeth spread a waterproof oilskin on the ground and put his lightsaber, his boots and their provisions on it, then beckoned for Raven to do the same.

"Our clothes are good for swimming, but our boots are not," he commented while wrapping the oilskin around their equipment and tying it into a bundle. "And while our lightsabers are somewhat waterproof, they cannot handle salt water indefinitely. So make sure that no water gets in. Alright, let us go. We will swim towards the crack in the cliffs that you discovered. It should be possible for us to climb up from there. Keep a little distance from the rocks, the waves are strong."

They made their way to the cave entrance where the water was knee-deep. "This is where we have to start swimming, I think," said Eeth and jumped in, Raven following suit right behind him.

Swimming with the heavy packs on their backs turned out to be hard work, harder than Eeth had foreseen. The water was rough and it was so dark at the foot of the cliffs that he had to rely on the Force to actually know where he was swimming and what was around him.

"Stay clear of those rocks!" he shouted and, with several quick and strong strokes, he only just managed to avoid being thrown into their jagged edges. He paused to see whether Raven was managing to follow.

Like Eeth, Raven was too busy swimming to reply and simply sent the mental equivalent of compliance across their bond. She managed to avoid the rocks thanks to Eeth's warning but she hoped it was not too much further as the current and waves were really tossing her around, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to fight the choppy sea.

Eventually, even Eeth was feeling the strain of working against the waves while currents pulled at them in various directions. He knew that Raven might not be able to hold out for much longer. Besides, she was much less proficient at finding her way through the Force than he was. Waiting for her to catch up, he called: "Grab my shoulders!"

As much as it pained her to do so, Raven was really struggling. Her strokes were getting slower and less forceful and her arms burned and ached. She had taken in a few gulps of sea water and had just flipped on to her back for a quick rest when she noticed Eeth had stopped ahead. Raven was about to tell him to go on, that she would make it, when he told her to grab on. For once, Raven did not question the order. As much as she wanted to make this on her own steam, it just wasn't going to happen, at least not in a timely fashion. Grateful for the help, she hooked an arm around his shoulder and started kicking. It was the least she could do if Eeth was doing most of the work.

"I'll just rest for a bit, then I can go again," she suggested, feeling both ashamed and guilty for needing to be carried like a toddler.

Eeth did not have the breath to waste to utter an answer; he had to navigate his way into the hidden cove through outcrops of rocks and pounding waves, and while he was strong enough to carry both their equipment and his padawan, it was extremely hard work. It was pitch dark in here, but his sense of his surroundings told him that the ground was rising beneath them and the cliffs were sloping downwards. He made his way into the fissure until his way was blocked by a heap of boulders which he clutched, panting.

"Woah, master, you totally kicked ass, that was awesome!" the padawan said exuberantly, very much impressed by his display of stamina. Of course, she had known that Eeth was resourceful, but this latest escapade had impressed her.

"Do not mention it," Eeth said when he had caught his breath. "You are twelve, after all, and do not have the body and the muscle power of a grown-up yet. And the swim was harder than I thought. Try to feel your way around me to these rocks. We will have to start our climb here, but I do not think it is going to be more than a meter or two. Beware, the boulders are slippery."

Not wanting to zap any more of his energy or strength, Raven quickly detached herself from his back and began negotiating the slippery rocks. Thankfully, he was right and the climb was short, albeit dangerous. Once she reached the top, Raven peeked over the edge ready to take the bag or try to help; not that he was the one in need of help.

Eeth scrambled up a moment later and threw the bag onto the rocks. He handed Raven a pair of night vision goggles and started distributing their equipment. "We need to find one of the entrances to the caves and enter unnoticed," he remarked. "I do not think they will be heavily guarded. Nobody will expect intruders from anywhere but the air."

"Entering an unguarded cave doesn't sound hard, but figuring out where to enter in the first place sounds like more of a challenge. Hmmm…" Raven trailed off and sighed. She hated that she could not help him here, but also knew that expecting herself to perform anywhere near his level was probably going to be considered arrogant, so she accepted the goggles and began clipping gear to her belt loops.

"We simply have to explore," said Eeth. "Look out for holes in the rocks. We will have to search the island and hope to find something. My scanner or our sense of the Force might be of use if there are living beings relatively close to the surface, but we do not know whether there will be."

Searching the islands in the hopes of finding 'something' did not exactly appear to be a comforting perspective to Raven. Then again, she assumed that Eeth knew what he was doing and if anyone could do this, it was him.

Several crawl spaces, drops, shafts, crevices and holes later, they had still not found an entrance. Raven was just about to ask if there was a better way of doing it when Eeth held up a silencing hand. Cautiously, she approached the hole he was standing over and peered over the edge. It had to be at least fifteen meters down, and their daylight was fading fast.

Eeth put a silencing finger to his lips. Faint voices and scraping noises were emerging from the shaft, and they were drawing closer. Eeth pulled Raven behind a few thorny bushes, drew on the Force to cloak them and watched the hole intensely. After a few moments, a head emerged and a lanky young man pulled himself out of it. He was followed by a teenage girl.

"Some fresh air, finally," the young man said in a bored tone, flopping down onto a flat piece of rock nearby. "Care for a death stick?"

"Definitely not," the slightly arrogant-sounding voice of the girl answered. "I don't know where you always get them from."

"Well, in contrast to you, I talk to people," the young man replied. "Want some news? We'll be leaving soon, and I'll be happy to never set foot on this godforsaken place again."

"Hmm," said the girl sceptically. "Where did you pick that up? How come we're leaving?"

The young man shrugged. "Seems as if the Jedi at the palace kicked up a huge fuss. Sent search teams everywhere. They managed to convince him that there's no way to reach the islands, but Dartan is afraid he's become suspicious. Besides, some of our men in Lossola have suddenly disappeared. She's planning on evacuating us to the jungle 'cause he's already looked there, apparently. It's just a matter of getting enough speeders here without arousing suspicion. They don't want to take boats. Wouldn't want to risk a drop of royal blood."

Raven looked at Eeth, eyes wide, but he had heard enough. Using the Force to dampen any sound they might accidentally make, he took Raven by the arm and pulled her away from the spot. They crept down into a ravine which they followed for a few dozen meters until Eeth signalled Raven to stop.

"I will comm Lakhri immediately," he said quietly. "We will wait for him on this island and make sure the royals are not evacuated until he arrives. Speeders or shuttles will not be able to land before morning. We need to find a good hiding place and try to sleep a little. Look for one while I talk to Lakhri. But be careful."

"Yes, master, I will," Raven assured him and backtracked to do as bade.

An hour later, the padawan had located a small drop space that lead down into a dead end cave about the size of their common room. Unable to sense any danger, she dropped into the cave and began looking around. This would be perfect, plus it had a water pool, which could mean another way out. Pulling her comlink, Raven contacted Eeth to provide details so he could find her, and… perhaps pull her back out of the hole while he was at it, as she was now kinda stuck!

Eeth had just finished his long comm talk with Lakhri, during which they had gone through a lot of details, when his comlink vibrated. "Padawan, where are you?" he asked. Upon hearing her answer, he sighed, but decided not to comment, for now, on the stupidity of jumping into a hole without a means to get out.

"Alright," he said. "I will come and get you. And we need to be fast about it because Lakhri and I just decided that we need to take some hostages before daybreak."

Following her comm signal as straightforward as he could – which was not very straightforward at all due the abundance of rocks – he finally reached the hole in which his padawan was sitting.

"I will use the Force to levitate you up!" he called. "Stand precisely under the hole if you can, else you will bump your head."

Raven did as bade. If she were being totally honest, it was kinda fun being levitated up. Not that she dared say as much. Instead, she grabbed onto the ledge as it came within reach and pulled herself the rest of the way through, just so it wasn't a total failure on her part. Yeah…

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, avoiding his gaze and pretending to dust herself off.

"If you ever again," said Eeth pointedly, "are as stupid as to enter a shaft that does NOT hold a ladder without securing your exit first, I will be seriously displeased." He leveled her with a stern glare although the effect was considerably mitigated by his night vision goggles.

Okay, so Raven had expected that. She ducked her head in way of compliance and generally looked rather embarrassed. "It won't happen again," she offered, scuffing the toe of her boot into the muddy ground, because what else could she possibly say to that? It had been pretty dumb not to have an escape, even if she had known that Eeth would be able to get her out.

"Why do we need to take hostages? It's not like they can escape to the jungle before Lakhri arrives," she asked, wanting to keep the conversation away from the stupidity of jumping into the hole.

"No, but their guards might decide against peaceful surrender," Eeth replied, "and the likelihood of an armed fight will be considerably lower if we have some hostages, preferably prominent ones. We will try to enter through the hole where we overheard the crown prince and his younger sister. It is bound to hold a ladder or rungs."

"Fair enough," Raven replied, nodding at his explanation; it made sense.

And so they took off. After a few minutes, they reached the hole again. Eeth approached cautiously, but there was no need; the place was deserted now. Only a faint smell of death stick smoke hinted at the conversation that had taken place earlier. Eeth held his scanner down the hole and waited for a few seconds. "Alright," he murmured, looking at the screen. "No living beings in the immediate vicinity. There might be droids, but I do not think that is very likely. Most droids would not take kindly to the moist and salty air in this place. Let us go down. I will go first, you follow me after a minute unless you hear otherwise from me." Without waiting for a response, he swung himself into the hole.

Raven did as he said, waited for exactly one minute and then followed him down. Trying to be as silent as possible, she moved up behind him and tried to get a sense of the area. There was flickering light coming from one of the tunnels which she gathered would lead them to people, but was not about to go rushing into anything. "We should follow the light," she suggested.

"We will," Eeth whispered. "Try shielding your presence as much as you can. I will try to keep us out of sight but moving through groups of people in well-lit areas might prove impossible at your current level of skill. We will see. Now, we are going to find out where the king and queen are hidden. Taking them hostage would seal the deal. If that is not possible, we will go for the crown prince. Since we saw that he is able to go outside on his own and smoke deathsticks, he should not be too heavily guarded."

They moved down the tunnel in the direction of the light. Soon, the sound of voices and music was audible. It became louder as they crept forward. Eeth stopped at a bend in the tunnel and held Raven back. Peering around the bend, he spotted the entrance to a large, comfortable-looking cavern where at least thirty people were gathered. A few of them were obviously guards, but most of the faces matched the pictures of members of the royal family that Eeth had studied intently on their trip to Larivan: these were the exact people they were looking for. Some were talking and eating, some were reading, some were arguing. A device on a wall played music that seemed to go by unnoticed. Eeth recognised the crown prince and a few youngsters at the back of the cavern on a sofa. The king and queen were sitting at a small table quite close to the entrance, talking to a man in expensive clothes and a rather mean-looking woman while studying a data pad that was lying in the middle of the table.

Eeth looked around and noticed a door to their left, a few meters behind them. It was locked, but he took a lockpick from his utility belt and had it open in no time. Inside, there were crates of food and hundreds of canisters of water.

"We will have to wait until the gathering breaks up," Eeth told Raven in a low voice. "I will lie in wait in the corridor, concealing my presence. You wait here. Once they break up, I either retreat to this room, in case they come my way, or I fetch you out. We will follow the king and queen if at all possible. If it is not, we will look for the crown prince. Alright?"

"Yes, master," Raven answered, somewhat distractedly. This was a lot to take in, it was also very exciting! This was for real now, not training and not a simulation. Real!

"Padawan, have you listened to everything I said and do you remember it?" Eeth asked pointedly.

"Uh," Raven's head snapped around to meet his gaze. "Course."

"You had better," said Eeth, giving her a pointed glare.

Raven swallowed at that and thought back, double-checking that she had indeed followed his instructions.

"I wait here until you come get me, and then we follow the king and queen, or find the crown prince," she said, just in case she really had missed something thanks to nervous excitement.

Eeth nodded curtly and left the room silently.

Raven, on the other hand, began silently rifling through the shelves of supplies for something quick and easy to swipe for a snack! Having found her way around the pickles, jerkied meats, various pâtés and other disgusting horrors, she found a vacuumed sealed bag of flat bread and, after breaking off a little from the end, stuffed the rest down her tunic to share with Eeth.

Eeth was not back for quite a while, however. He crouched behind the bend in the corridor for more than an hour; the crowd seemed quite excited at the news of their impending departure and reluctant to go to bed. Finally, the queen decreed that they all needed some sleep, and apparently, the queen was not to be argued with. When the gathering in the cavern broke up, nearly everyone headed in the opposite direction. Only two men headed towards Eeth, and those two were clearly guards. Eeth pressed himself to the wall of the corridor, cloaking his presence through the Force, and they ambled by without noticing anything.

Barely a second later, one of the guards suddenly stopped in front of the exact room that Raven was hiding in and fished a key out of his pocket. "I'll get myself a snack and drink," she said. "It's going to be a long night, being on comm and watch duty."

"Bring me a tin of nuts," her companion said around a yawn, continuing down the corridor.

Eeth narrowed his eyes, but decided against interfering, for now. Chances were that they would not discover Raven, especially if the girl drew on the Force in order to conceal her presence. If they did, it would still take him no more than a second to come to her rescue.

Meanwhile, Raven was busy stuffing anything that would fit in her utility pouch without impeding her movement. Once satisfied that she had enough to sate them both, she returned her attention to the rooms outside, trying to pick up on any disturbance in the Force. The sound of footsteps approaching and the jingle of keys being inattentively jammed into the lock on her door had Raven going wide-eyed.

"Shit!" she cursed under her breath and sent Eeth a distress call through their bond just in case he was not aware that she had company. With a quick glance around the room, she used the Force to jump onto a shelf and hid behind a huge barrel of … "Argh! Livestock lard. What the hell is wrong with these people?!" … and cloaked her presence as best she could.

The last thing the guard expected to see was a girl balanced precariously behind a barrel of lard on the top shelf of their stockroom, which was why, she assumed, he did not detect her. Once he had taken his snacks, Raven waited for the door to be relocked before daring to peer from behind the barrel. It was less than a minute later the door silently slid open once again, but this time it was Eeth who entered the room.

"Master, up here," she whispered, popping her head up over the barrel and carefully moved to a position where she could be noiselessly lifted to the ground. "That was close. Are we going to find them now?"

"I think so," Eeth replied, lifting Raven down from her shelf. "Hurry. They left the main cavern a minute ago, but I was impeded by two guards who were coming our way. They should be gone now."

They hurried through the now empty cavern and into the corridor that opened to the opposite site. Thankfully, they were not forced to track the royals down in a maze of caverns, as Eeth had feared; the corridor was a dead end. It had six doors to what were probably sleeping cells, three to the right and three to the left.

Eeth pursed his lips in thought. Pulling out his scanner, he checked each door briefly. The last room to their right was empty, so he opened the door and pulled Raven in. It was another storage room, a little larger than the last, and it held cleaning equipment, laundry and blankets.

"All the other rooms on this corridor hold persons," he told Raven in a low voice. "The first to the right holds only one person. The second holds four very small ones, so it must be the children's room. The three rooms to the left hold two persons each. Any suggestions?" In fact, he had a rather clear idea of how to proceed, but since nobody was going to run away from them in a hurry, he thought they could afford the time to hear Raven's ideas.

"Okay, so, you said we should aim to take the king and queen," Raven restated. "And they could be behind any of the doors on the left. I guess if it were me doing this, I'd knock on each door and then hide. Once I knew which door the king and queen were behind, I'd… well…" Raven frowned. How in Hoth would she get the pair out without being overcome by security and other family members? "Maybe use a Force suggestion to have them leave quietly with us? Or we could threaten to kill them, or one of the smaller children if they don't come quietly?" She winced at the latter, knowing this was probably not the answer Eeth wanted to hear, but then, it would most likely work.

"We are going to leave the children out of this," Eeth said firmly. "I am not going to take a small child hostage if I can help it. Nor will I threaten to kill anyone. If we need to resort to threats, the threat of delivering them to the police will be sufficient, I think. Using a Force suggestion would be an excellent idea. Rather than knocking and risking to wake everyone, we should wait until everyone is asleep. When that is the case, we can quietly look into any of the rooms. I would suggest sedating them with a hypospray, but we need to get them out of here, and I doubt you can carry the queen all the way. Or could you?"

He looked at her critically. "Or we could capture the crown prince as well and use a Force compulsion on him so he could help you carry," he mused. "He might be the one in the single room next to ours. Since he has smoked a couple of death sticks, he will be extremely easy to control. What do you think?"

"I think that I couldn't carry the queen without drawing heavily on the Force. I'd need help. The second idea where you persuade the prince to help me would work better. However, if we take the king, queen and the crown prince, that will leave the children pretty much alone; their older sister wasn't much older than me. It would work, though."

"Even if we manage to take the king, queen and crown prince, there will be four more adults in this corridor," Eeth pointed out. "Servants, probably. Which is fine since I doubt that their parents would be the one these children go to when they need an adult. Most royals do not work like that."

"They don't? How come?" Raven did not know much about the life of a royal and wished she had asked 5JPL to teach her more about their customs.

"The point of being a royal, apparently, is to have people wait on you," Eeth said in a low voice. "This typically includes childcare duties which are messy and time-consuming. The queen seemed quite pompous to me and I doubt she has ever changed a soiled diaper."

Raven wrinkled her nose. "I can't really blame her there. Eww."

Eeth, personally, thought that people who had children had duties towards them, and if those duties included changing soiled diapers, that was still no excuse for shirking them! However, he decided not to enter a debate about childcare while sitting in a cavern, waiting to take the crown prince of Larivan hostage.

"Alright," he said. "We will wait until we sense that everyone is asleep and then check the room next to ours first. Depending on what or whom we find, we will proceed from there. It cannot be too long until they fall asleep; it must be close to midnight now."

Eeth sat down on a stack of blankets and leaned back into a crate that held sheets, cushioning his back with another blanket.

Leaning back into the section of blanket next to him, the padawan pulled the flat, vacuumed-packed piece of bread from inside her tunic and handed it to him.

"Thank you," said Eeth in a low voice and took a bite. He was not outrageously hungry, for now, but they had a long night ahead. "Now try to get some rest. There will be no time for sleeping later."

"Do you really think we will get this family off planet?"

"Unfortunately for us, I do," Eeth replied, leaning back his head and closing his eyes. "Drink, padawan. And then rest."

"Yes, master," she replied, accepting the flask. Five minutes later Raven was dozing lightly, her breaths slow and calm.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hey all, thanks for following us on this adventure! It's great to hear that people are enjoying our writing and ideas enough to leave us comments and IMs. We appreciate both. Apologise for the delay with this chapter. Between us, we have had a mixture of family emergencies, illness and vacations to blame. Anyway, we will always get around to it, eventually. We are about two thirds of the way through our story at this point, and our Jedi, but mostly Raven, are about to endure a little hardship of a kind she had not been expecting after her overall great performance during this mission.

* * *

A good hour later, Eeth woke Raven.

"Come," he whispered quietly. The corridor was quiet and nearly dark, the only light a small lamp marking the exit. Eeth noiselessly picked the lock to the room next to theirs and they tiptoed over to the bed. It was the crown prince, just as he had assumed, snoring heavily. Eeth decided against taking him right now; he might be unable to move silently and would risk revealing their presence.

They went on to check the other rooms. The first room to the left held the king's sister and her husband. The second held the king and queen. Eeth assumed that the last might hold servants; as far as he knew, a chamber maid and the children's nanny had disappeared along with the royal family. Deciding against wasting time on further inquiries, he pressed a hypospray to the base of the king's and queen's necks. This was going to take them out for at least two hours.

"You stay here," he whispered. "I will bring the crown prince and then we will take them out of here by the same way we came in."

Raven nodded to show compliance, but remained silent. She used the time Eeth was gone to look around the room for anything they might need. There was a small bottle of pills on the king's bedside table, so she pocketed those. There was nothing essential for survival on the dresser, just a bunch of very expensive jewellery. The bathroom revealed nothing of importance. That said, she did shove a few flat packets of tissues inside her lapel pockets, because you never know, right?

The padawan jumped slightly as Eeth re-entered the room and could not help smirking sympathetically at the rather sleep-bedraggled and eerily vacant-looking crown prince, who was obediently lifting his mother from her bed.

"The king takes medication, I don't know what it is for," she whispered and raised her brows at the ease in which her master hefted the heavy-looking king over his shoulder.

"Take it with you," Eeth whispered back. "You go ahead and use your eyes as well as the Force to check that the way ahead is clear. I do not want to run into guards with the king on my back."

A short time later, Raven was scouting their way out. She held up a hand and pushed herself flush against the wall as three guards wandered into the room just around the corner. Thankfully, they did not decide to come their way, or the padawan might have been discovered, since despite having cloaked herself to the best of her ability, she was not yet able to hide in plain sight as Eeth did.

It was an agonisingly slow trip out but eventually they managed to reach the surface. The prince was beginning to tire having to carry most of his mother's weight, though. He was far to weak for a young man of his age and stature, Eeth thought disdainfully.

Raven suggested that she carry the queen for five minutes to give the prince a rest. It would slow them down significantly, but at least they would not have to stop so close to reaching their chosen hideout.

"You might carry her together," Eeth suggested, not wanting to lose any more time than absolutely necessary. "You take her shoulders, and the crown prince takes her feet."

He had decided to wait for Lakhri's arrival in the cave that Raven had found because it was so well hidden. He would attach a rope to secure their exit, but it would most likely not even be needed. Once Lakhri arrived, they could levitate the hostages out. Even if they were discovered, the guards could hardly storm the cave unless they wanted to endanger the royals.

A short while later, they had reached the hole and lowered the king and queen to the ground next to it. Eeth lost no time in sedating the prince as well.

"He will not remember a thing although he might wonder why his muscles are sore," he told Raven. "We will check them for weapons in a moment and then let them wake up on their own."

He tied a rope around a craggy rock near the cave entrance and let it drop down.

"You go first," he told Raven. "I will levitate the royals down. You try to make sure they do not drop on top of each other."

Raven didn't hesitate and quickly dropped down the entrance, clearing the ground of rocks and other obstacles. Not long after, the royals were lying on the cave floor and Eeth dropped noiselessly into the cave.

"You have to teach me how to do that," Raven remarked.

Eeth frowned. "Do what?" he asked.

"Land without making any noise," she explained, thinking that it would have come in handy more than a few times during this mission alone.

"Yes, when we are back at the Temple," Eeth said, but his focus was elsewhere, namely on getting their three hostages to a dry spot. "Let us search them for weapons," he said. "You do the queen."

"She's clean… Unless you want to count these as weapons? Actually, they're probably more like protection or armour of some sort." Raven pulled out some firm pads from the woman's bra and shot him a clearly puzzled expression before replacing them.

Eeth's mouth quirked slightly but he did not comment. He was busy searching the king. This proved to be quite a task, as the man had a surprising amount of small shiny daggers and miniature blasters hidden in his ornate pajamas, in addition to a couple of pills sewn into the hem of his shirt that Eeth suspected were poison. He pocketed everything.

Meanwhile, Raven started rifling through the crown prince's pant pockets and was surprised to discover four death sticks and a lighter. Why he had these in his sleep pants pocket, Raven did not know, but guessed that he was trying to hide them from his parents, as that was the only reason she could think of. Holding them up to her nose, she eyed them cautiously,

"What do these do to you anyway?" she asked curiously, wondering what the odds were of Eeth allowing her to experiment.

Eeth turned around and scowled as he saw the death sticks in Raven's hands.

"They ruin your life," he said curtly. "At first, of course, they only make you carefree and happy. Then they cause overconfidence and an intense state of sexual arousal. They also annihilate brain cells at an astounding rate and do damage to your lungs. Even passively inhaling their smoke can have these effects. If I ever catch you trying them, or even thinking about it, there will be serious trouble. And should you ever find yourself in the company of people smoking them, you will leave immediately. Your brain cells deserve to be preserved for later use. Oh, and should you ever find fellow padawans indulging in this bad habit, I expect you to tell me. I know that one does not normally tell on fellow padawans, but death sticks are no laughing matter. On some species, the effects are even stronger than on humanoids. They can have devastating results."

"Eesh! Touchy much? I was just ask–ing," Raven said in a voice that clearly said that she thought his response over the top. She raised both hands in placation, though, because for Eeth to be this adamant over something, there had to be a really good reason. Raven wasn't sure what, exactly, but it had to be something, considering that stern and utterly exhaustive reaction. She held out the death sticks, but closed her hand around them. She tilted her head to one side in a way that Eeth would recognise as contemplative.

"The prince doesn't look like he has problems with the number of brain cells he has, and he obviously smokes them."

"Padawan," Eeth snapped, holding out his hand. "You hand them here, now. Contrary to your impression, even one of them can do damage, and they are addictive. 'Just one' will inevitably turn into more very fast. If you continue to argue the point, you may do so over my knee."

Raven met him with an indignant expression, but given that his tone matched the threat, she decided that it was wise to obey. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time she had caught it somewhere embarrassing. Relenting, she opened her hand and dropped the death sticks into his.

"Your lack of trust doesn't fill me with confidence," she grumbled quietly while rifling through the prince's other pockets.

"It is illegal for minors to even be in possession of them," Eeth said severely. "And I know that the temptation to experiment can be too much to handle, even for usually well-behaved padawans. If you find any more in the crown prince's pockets, give them to me immediately."

Raven wanted to argue that she wasn't a minor, but she didn't really have a leg to stand on there. Thus, she remained quiet. That was until she pulled two more death sticks from the teen's top pocket and handed them over.

"Spoilsport," she grumbled quietly.

"I will show you how much of a spoilsport I can be if you give me any more cheek," Eeth said in a dangerously low voice. "Are you done searching the prince?"

Raven grinned ever so slightly at his threat, but again, she heeded the warning; she wouldn't put it past him.

"He's clean," she confirmed, looking around the cave for a dry place to sit. "I'm glad it's not cold!"

"Yes, that is one thing to be thankful for," Eeth agreed. "Let me comm Lakhri. He should already be on his way. Then, you may sleep for what little is left of the night."

"Alright," Raven conceded. The idea of sleep wasn't such a bad one. The problem was, this cave wasn't exactly her soft bed from the Temple. Knowing what Eeth would have to say about it if she complained, the padawan refrained from voicing her thoughts and instead sat to pull off her boots.

"I'm so sick of all this rain and water," she said, ever grateful for the fact that their Raintex gear repelled most of the humidity.

"Fortunately, we will be able to leave soon," Eeth replied. "I suspect we will have to have a stopover in Lossola to do the paperwork, but since most people are eager to get rid of their former royals, this should not take too long."

He leaned against a wall and offered, "You may rest your head on my lap if you like. It ought to be more comfortable than the stone floor." He needed to stay awake and watch their hostages, as he had decided against tying them up or handcuffing them. It would be needlessly rude which would only make their trip home so much more bothersome.

Unaware of Eeth's thoughts, Raven gave him a curious expression as she knelt down to sit by his side.

"Shouldn't we restrain them or something?" she asked, gesturing to the sleeping hostages; if they both slept, who was going to guard the royals?

"I will keep watch," replied Eeth. "If they woke up and found themselves restrained, they would probably feel rather aggravated and they might let us know it during the entire journey back. I would prefer to avoid that."

That Eeth would sacrifice sleep to spare himself the pain of enduring whining royals amused Raven. Then again, it was hardly unexpected. She smiled, but said nothing and just laid her head on his thigh. It wasn't exactly comfortable; Eeth's thigh was just as hard as the floor… Despite this, the padawan did not complain. It felt good to be comforted by him, and if she was honest, the cave was creepy and she wouldn't have gotten much sleep having to be alone.

The king was the first to stir, which was logical: since he had the largest body mass, the effects of the hypospray wore off quickest. It was still pitch dark when Eeth sensed and heard him move. He unfastened a torch from his belt and lit it, pointing it at the ceiling of the cave. The king groped around for a moment, clearly confused, and then sat up with a start.

"WHA…?" he asked, dumbfounded, looking around wildly.

"Good morning," said Eeth smoothly. "Well, it is morning in a rather technical sense only, of course. I am Master Eeth Koth from the Jedi Order and I have been sent to escort you and your family to Coruscant. As you have not been easy to retrieve, I hope you will excuse the small inconvenience. We will soon be picked up by a starship that should offer adequate comfort. If you can convince Dartan's people to hand over the remaining members of your family without further ado, you will be granted free exit by Lossola's authorities."

Raven woke when Eeth started speaking, her head popping up as she looked around for the source of his attention. Apparently, the king was just realising what had happened. As he felt around for his weapons and found them missing, Raven expected some sort of fight or screaming match, but there was none. Not even finding himself in this position at four in the morning had him angry. Instead, he simply looked resigned.

"Well, I suppose I am beaten, then," he said with some degree of dignity.

"That seems to be the case, yes," Eeth replied calmly. "The authorities could press charges against you for your attempt at escaping the law, but they are going to refrain from it and from pursuing those who have hidden you if you and your family allow us to escort you to Coruscant without a fight. It is as simple as that. If you desire to make a comm call to your guards, I will be happy to lend you my comlink."

* * *

Two hours later, Eeth and Raven had assembled the entire royal family near the main quai, which was the only surface suitable for shuttles to land on, while the surly-looking guards, including the expensively-dressed man they had seen the night before, had made a fast exit by speedboat, keen on putting as much distance between law enforcement and themselves as possible. It was early morning and the rain was coming down in sheets; the roof under which they huddled together offered little protection. Quite a few members of the royal family seemed positively relieved when the shuttles landed, five in all; only the queen was complaining loudly, while the king pursed his lips in stony silence.

Raven stood still and silent as they waited for the shuttles to land. She was tired, soaked and a little grumpy! But a few stern words from Eeth had the padawan on her best behaviour in front of the royals.

Lakhri jumped out of the foremost shuttle, gave a cheery little wave at Eeth and Raven and then bowed formally to the royal family.

"Your excellencies," he said, for they were technically no longer 'majesties'. "Knight Lakhri Tumuel from the Jedi Order. If you would be so kind as to board these shuttles?"

He looked a good deal more presentable than Eeth and Raven, whose clothing was muddy and torn in places and whose hair was dishevelled. However, it did not show in Eeth's dignified posture as he escorted the royal couple and the still slightly dazed crown prince into the first shuttle. Raven, too, was doing her best to look dignified while slathered in Force only knew what. She did, however, break her unphased expression to smile widely at Lakhri; she'd missed him!

Once they were on board and there was no chance of another boat or speeder ride, Raven let out a breath she had not known she was holding: they had done it! Now all that was left to do was get the royals back to Coruscant and their mission would have been a success. The smile on Raven's face was unmistakably pleased, although the reason for this would only be known to Eeth, and perhaps Lakhri.

Eeth understood indeed, and he was just as pleased with Raven as she was with herself. He returned her smile briefly before turning to Lakhri. They had a quick exchange and arranged for a security team to retrieve the boat and return their rente speeder to Lossola.

"Well, here goes," said Lakhri when that was decided and started the shuttle. The other shuttles roared to life as well, following his lead.

"I'm not unhappy at the prospect of never seeing this place again," the crown prince, who had taken a seat next to Raven, said around a yawn. "Coruscant is bound to be better than anything this planet has to offer. How's the starship you brought? Does it have on-board entertainment?"

"Oh yeah, it has everything," Raven replied happily, and then she met the teenager with a slightly sympathetic expression.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you and your family will like Coruscant. It is busy and there is always something to do; plus, it doesn't rain all the time. Maybe you would like that for a change." Raven wasn't sure if it was acceptable to be so informal with them or not, so she looked over at Eeth, waiting to see how he chose to interact.

"Yes, it does offer a lot of entertainment," Eeth agreed stiffly, the notion of entertainment not sitting well with him. "Whether you like rain or not is, of course, a matter of preference."

The prince shrugged. "I don't mind it. We are so used to it, we hardly notice. We spent the occasional holiday on Aydar, a nearby desert planet with gorgeous beaches and gorgeous babes. All that sunshine was weird. We got burned badly."

"That's not going to happen on Coruscant!" Lakhri called back from the drivers' seat. "Too much smog."

The queen sniffed. "A dreadful place," she said tearfully. "I still cannot believe they are sending us into exile. After everything we have done for this planet!"

"We are merely fulfilling our orders, madam," Lakhri said politely. "Look, there's Stavasset. The starcruiser is waiting for us at the space port beneath the city walls."

They cruised over the city and glided to a halt next to their starship that was parked on a small landing pad which was otherwise empty.

Raven watched carefully as Lakhri brought the shuttle in to land. Once they came to a complete halt, she unfastened her restraints and stood ready to open the hatch for their royal passengers.

Fifteen minutes later Raven was waiting patiently for a moment to talk to her master, although he was rather busy making calls, speaking with the guards and royal authorities. Becoming impatient, she cleared her throat and tugged at his elbow sleeve.

"Master," she interrupted as politely as possible, meeting the king with an apologetic expression. The girl was a mess, her hair, face and clothing were filthy, but she didn't know what she was meant to be doing right now, and standing around quietly and listening was boring.

"In a moment, padawan, " Eeth said calmly. He was sitting in the main state room while Lakhri was in the cockpit piloting, and he had a host of things to arrange, ranging from their guests' accommodation on the ship to alerting authorities in Lossola to their imminent arrival. The journey through the upper strata of the atmosphere would only take two hours and he needed to finish these tasks before they arrived.

Finally, 5JPL had shown all members of the royal family to their rooms, and Eeth turned towards Raven. "Patience is not your strong suit," he remarked mildly. "What is it?"

Raven gave him a look that said 'you've only just noticed that?!' but thankfully, she didn't actually state as much. "What am I meant to be doing?"

"I suggest we both take a shower and get dressed," Eeth said dryly. "The closet in our cabin holds spare clothes. Do not make the mistake of going to sleep before we have left Lossola, though. You may not manage to get up again before tomorrow. When you are dressed, you may join Lakhri in the cockpit. Oh, and do not use the royal bath. It is off-limits to us while they are aboard this ship."

"They can have it now," Raven said with a slight smile. "I got to test it out before them anyway." And with that, Raven turned and made for her room where she did as told.

Half an hour later, Raven emerged from her room, feeling much better for having a clean, dry uniform. She had found a medical kit in a hallway cupboard and laid it on the floor to look for an elastic band when she noticed the princess coming her way. The girl was concentrating hard on the handheld game she was playing, and had Raven not moved out of the way, she would have ploughed right over her. As it was, she stumbled over the med kit Raven had been looking through and shot the Jedi an accusing glare.

"What do you think you're doing in the middle of the floor? People are trying to walk here, you know," she said acidly and kicked the packet of bandages in frustration.

Raven quirked a brow at this, knowing what Eeth would say if she had tried the same approach. Besides, she was hardly in the MIDDLE of the floor, she was more off to the side. "You should be mindful of your surroundings, and perhaps watch where you are going," she replied smoothly, snatching an elastic band that she had been looking for before standing and introducing herself. "I'm Raven Trebeck, padawan of the Jedi Order. It's nice to meet you." She was attempting to repair the damage. After all, it would be bad to start a five-day journey by making enemies.

"As if I care who you are! Just get this mess cleaned up and stay out of my way," the princess demanded and strode off towards the common room.

Raven just stood there for a long moment, not sure what to make of that. Okay, so apparently the princess was either pissed at having to leave her home, or she was just a total bitch… The latter was seeming more probable as she heard the girl start arguing with the protocol droid over something that was not in her room.

The padawan made short work of reassembling the med kit (minus one small tin of bacta which she discreetly tucked in her tunic pocket) and took off for the cockpit where she found Lakhri.

"Lakhri, you survived the royal palace!" she said happily, hugging him from where he sat in the pilots seat.

Lakhri chuckled. "Yeah, it seems as if I missed all the fun," he said. "On the other hand, I got to kick some ass. Eeth is going to blow Dartan's cover, apparently. A rare opportunity to get one of the bigger fish caught and let the smaller fish go."

"But you always get to kick ass. You're a knight so it goes with the territory. And speaking of kicking ass, do we get to go and blow Dartan's cover with him?" Raven wanted to know.

Lakhri shrugged. "No idea. I expect he will do it the calm, dignified and unobtrusive way. Maybe Dartan has already fled the city; she must have heard that the royals have been found by now. But even if she escapes, she has lost her position and her main source of income, so that's something. Oh, by the way, I talked to Maris. I think I could get her to understand why you were doing what you were doing. And there is hope she won't have to run these errands for her uncle anymore."

"You talked to Maris!" Raven exclaimed, sitting down in the co-pilot's chair. "She was scared of them, you know, all of them. I just hope that Poss doesn't blame her for leading me there. It will be good that she doesn't have to run those errands anymore, though. I heard that we have a couple of hours at the palace so I'm going to talk to her myself if she's still around, and if Eeth lets me."

"She's still around, and I'm sure that Eeth will let you," said Lakhri.

Lossola came into view beneath them. This time, Lakhri did not head for the main spaceport since he had received clearance to land on the palace roof.

Eeth entered the cockpit, dressed immaculately in full Jedi attire.

"One of us needs to stay on the ship," Eeth said to Lakhri, entering the cockpit. "Lossola's authorities will not let the royal family set a foot outside it. They will come aboard to confirm their identities and check that the family is complete. Would you like me to stay and take care of this part?"

"No, you go ahead to the palace," Lakhri replied. "I'm not fussed about saying a fond goodbye to the place. Could you take Raven to see her friend? You want to, Raven, don't you?"

Raven nodded, and then she turned her gaze on Eeth. Lakhri had said he wouldn't mind, after all.

"If it makes you feel better, by all means talk to her," said Eeth. "I estimate that I will need about two hours at the palace for the paperwork, so there should be time."

He sat down next to Lakhri and called the palace, receiving clearance for him and Raven to leave the ship. He also requested someone to escort Raven to meet Maris.

Ten minutes later, Eeth and Raven walked down the ramp, awaited by a team of security officials. Some of them boarded the ship where they were received by Lakhri. Others positioned themselves at the ramp and around the ship, while a few more took Eeth and Raven into the palace.

"I am Captain Hecker," a young blond woman told Raven. "Follow me and I will take you to see the Zabrak. girl."

As Eeth disappeared into a lift on the left, Raven and her escort hopped into a speeder and flew a short distance to another entrance on the ground level. She wasn't really paying the journey much mind, though as her thoughts were centered on how Maris was going to react. Sure, she trusted Lakhri implicitly and knew he would have done his best to explain. The truth was that it wasn't Lakhri she doubted, but Maris' reaction once out of his presence. He was an adult, after all, while Maris was not. Well, there wasn't much for it now. Raven had resigned herself to the fact that she owed her friend the right to tear her a new one, if nothing else.

The woman lead Raven into a small, albeit comfortable room where Maris sat. She looked relatively calm, considering what had gone down since the last time they had spoken.

"No lies, huh?" Mairs said bluntly upon seeing Raven enter her room.

"There might have been a few," Raven admitted honestly, taking a seat by her side. "But you understand why, right? I didn't do any of this to hurt you or your family. It's…"

"… your duty, yeah," Maris cut her off. "Lakhri told me."

"Correct," said Raven, a touch solemnly. She refrained from adding more to that response in order to give Maris a moment to finish anything else she might want to say.

Maris, however, was not accustomed to being granted time to sort through her emotions. With her friends and family, it was survival of the one with the fastest wit, sharpest tongue and loudest voice. From what little experience she'd had with Lakhri and Raven it was clear to her that the Jedi did not share that philosophy; she liked that.

"I was angry with you at first. I felt like I went out of my way to be nice to a stranger – trusting people is hard for me – and you betrayed that trust," Maris said.

"I did, and I'm sorry that I had to do that to you," replied Raven, not bothering to argue with her; she was correct.

Okay, so Maris wasn't sure where to go now. She certainly wasn't used to anyone owning their actions when they were being confronted over them! She nodded but was finding it very hard to remain angry. Heck, had she really been angry or was she just wounded over not being let in on the act? This revelation had the Zabrak feeling a little uncomfortable. However, it wasn't something she was about to admit, maybe not even to herself.

Raven picked up on her discomfort and decided it was time to bring up the positives that came of all this. "Lakhri tells me that your family have been given options, and that you might not have to do those deliveries anymore. That's gotta be a relief, right?"

Maris shrugged, still unsure of all the details. "Poss said something about being given some legit work, but he didn't tell me more than that. It's not as if I can do much worse than the jobs I was doing, anyway."

"True, that," said Raven, smiling; she sensed forgiveness in Maris now which was as good an outcome as the padawan could have hoped for.

"So, are you allowed to tell me all the gory details about how you found our snooty royals?" Maris asked, and much to her delight, Raven laughed and the two began exchanging experiences.

It was about an hour later that Captain Hecker entered the room to collect Raven. She was pleased to see that the two girls were both smiling and laughing. Of course, the woman had no idea that there had been any sort of rift between them, but nor had she been blind to the expression on Maris' face when she had led the padawan learner inside.

Raven stood, nodded to indicate that her escort give them a moment longer and hugged her friend.

"You better keep in touch, 'Jedi' Raven," said Maris, returning the hug.

"You know I will."

Maris nodded and added: "Duty permitting, of course."

Raven gave a knowing smile, pleased to have found a friend in the Zabrak that she hoped would be life-long. "Be safe," she said in farewell and left with the captain, heading for their cruiser on the palace roof.

"You were right," Raven told Lakhri as she entered the cockpit. "She wasn't pissed at me. Well not that much anyway, and we're going to keep in contact." Raven was happy about that for a couple of reasons: mostly because she had managed to make what could be a life-long friend in Maris, but also because contacts were important, and Maris was certainly a contact that Raven wanted to have onside.

Lakhri smiled at her. "That's great," he said. "We'll be leaving in a moment. The last security official just left, and now they're eager to get rid of us, or rather, of the royals. Why don't you go tell Eeth that you are back? He's in the state room talking to the Senate on Coruscant, I think, letting them know that the royal family is going to arrive soon."

"Alright, I'll go find him."

Eeth gave Raven a brief smile when she entered, without ceasing to talk. He wrote something on a data pad and handed it to her. It read:

"Padawan, could you please inform the royals that we are about to depart and ask whether there is anything they need? 5JPL should be able to help you."

Suppressing a sigh at having to play nursemaid to a bunch of royals, Raven grabbed 5JPL and took off for the dining room where were most of the royal family were seated. They were having what passed as a snack but to the Temple-raised padawan, it looked like a five-star dining extravaganza.

"Excuse me, your excellencies," she interrupted, gaining their attention. "We're leaving for Coruscant in five minutes. I have been sent to see if there is anything you need," she said plainly, doing her best not to let her tired, unenthusiastic manner show through.

"Yeah, you can start by telling your bone-headed master and the little troll thing to keep away from us. We are being forced into this, and despite what my father says, we are none too happy about it and nor will we give up that easily," provided Nereem.

"Nereem! I think you had best go to your quarters and cool off. Taking your anger out on those who are meant to help us is no way to get what you want, and you know it. Oh, and stay away from your father. He is resting in the room next to yours," the Queen instructed, not bothering to check that the girl was moving; she seemed to simply expect it. Meeting the apprentice with a semi-patronising expression, she crooked a finger and beckoned her closer.

"Would you see to it that this list is actioned before dinner this evening, young padawan," she ordered, more than asked, in a soft tone.

"Yes, Ma'am," Raven replied, offering a formal bow before leaving the room. It had not been easy for Raven to ignore Nereem's comments, but having the queen sent her packing was enough to placate her. For now.

The list consisted of about thirty tasks, most of which she delegated to 5JPL, the nanny and the king's personal assistant. However, there were a few things she decided to see to herself, such as double-checking the security of each room and organising a few 'sensitive' messages to be forwarded to their personal staff on Coruscant. Happy that she had fulfilled her duties, the padawan went to find Eeth and Lakhri in the cockpit. They were due to enter hyperspace soon, and after missing out on the take-off running around after the royals, she didn't want to miss that also.

Eeth was now acting as a co-pilot and he was simultaneously exchanging messages with various recipients on Coruscant.

Lakhri turned around briefly as Raven entered and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Everything alright with our guests?" he asked.

Raven returned Lakhri's expression, sat into the engineer's seat and huffed.

"Yes, they're alright. They're horrible, miserable personalities, but they're alright." Raven wasn't exactly thrilled over Nereem's comments; she could be quite protective of Eeth and Lakhri and it had stung her to hear them insulted.

Eeth turned around from where he was making a lot of notes very fast in between setting their coordinates for entry into hyperspace and fixed her with a stern look.

"No matter how horrible and miserable they are, you will behave in your best manner, padawan," he said severely. "Is that understood?"

"Yeah," Lakhri agreed. "And no poisonous frogs. Take that advice from me."

Raven just glared at Eeth, but she gave Lakhri a slightly amused expression.

"Well, they all deserve a few poisonous frogs," she said matter-of-factly, fully aware of how that comment would go over with Eeth, but willing to risk it.

"Nobody deserves poisonous frogs," Eeth said firmly. "Pull yourself together. I know you are tired and these people are obnoxious, but we need you to assist us, not to whine or entertain thoughts of silly pranks."

"Wait a moment," Raven said, frowning deeper. "I am not all apart, and I DID assist us, what do you think I was doing while you and Lakhri were doing all the good stuff?" she retorted, annoyed at not only missing out, but not even getting credit for putting up with them.

"I know you did help," Eeth said sharply. "That is part of your job description, and I do not want to hear complaints. And I have no idea what 'good stuff' you are referring to, unless you count an endless sequence of comm calls as 'good stuff '."

"You do so know what I'm referring to," she accused. "And if you don't consider piloting the ship to be 'good stuff', then next time I'll help fly the cruiser while you deal with the royal pain in the asses."

Lakhri could see where this conversation was heading, and he was not keen on it.

"Calm down, both of you," he said. "Eeth, Raven has not been off-planet all that often. Missing our take-off is a bigger deal to her than it is to you. Raven, you will have more take-off procedures in your future than you will care for. We really did need you to look after the royals, and you know perfectly well that you are neither cleared to navigate star cruisers nor able to deal with all the red tape that Eeth was taking care of. I know how aggravating these people can be, but if we forget ourselves now, the coming days might become close to unbearable."

Eeth was still glaring, but Lakhri's comment had taken the wind out of his sails to a certain extent. "Putting up with arrogant royals is nobody's idea of a good time," he said decisively, "but if it needs to be done, complaining about it will not help. Now, you may help me organise lunch."

Raven was no longer glaring at either of them, she just looked resigned.

"Incidentally, aggravating is like the understatement of the century. Nereem has decided that she wants to take out her frustration by trying to outdo her insufferableness each time we meet. She has been nothing but insulting, spiteful and threatening towards me since we boarded. It's making doing their bidding that bit more grating," she confessed. Raven was no longer complaining about it, she was trying to find some sort of understanding.

"In that case, let me know when the princess is honestly more than you can handle," Eeth said matter-of-factly. "Lakhri or I can deal with her instead. Now come with me. 5JPL ought to have checked everybody's food preferences by now; we will put together a menu and program the food processors."

"Program their food processors. Like, as if we are there personal servants or something," Raven griped as she followed Eeth and Lakhri towards the kitchen area.

Eeth turned around abruptly and folded his arms across his chest, forcing her to stop. "You, my padawan," he said sternly, "seem to be in an argumentative mood today. I, however, am not inclined to justify each and every one of my instructions to you. I have tolerated an unusually high amount of backtalk from you because you are tired and had an exhausting couple of days, but it stops here. Period. Have I made myself clear?"

What Raven did not know was that Nereem was exiting the hall at the opposite end. She had caught half of Raven's comment, and Eeth's response to it. Amused, she slowed her pace, curious to see where this went.

It was then that Raven noticed Nereem's presence, and gave a curt, quiet: "Yes, master," in the hopes of not making an even bigger scene. The last thing she wanted was to give Nereem the satisfaction of seeing her get told off over them.

"Yes, master," Nereem mocked her quietly in a simpering kind of tone, curtseying in an exaggerated manner. She snickered, pointed a supremely condescending look at Raven and headed for the dining room.

Eeth and Lakhri raised their eyebrows at each other.

"Just ignore her," Lakhri told Raven as they entered the kitchen. "I know it's easier said than done but she's really not worth your while."

Raven's jaw squared at the provocation, but she wasn't stupid enough to retort with Eeth and Lakhri standing there. Thus, she swallowed the scathing remark she had ready to throw back and contented herself by frying holes in the girl's back with her glare. Lakhri's console helped a little; Force, he had been through worse when he was a padawan. Anyway, Nereem would get hers, it was only a matter of time.

"Here is the list of meals," said Eeth, handing her a data pad. "You do the meals for the children. I will do the king's and queen's, and Lakhri can do the servants'."

Still not happy, but resigned, Raven went about doing as instructed. She started with Belinda, the family's second youngest, but Nereem's attitude was grating on her and she was struggling to let it go. Sure, Raven knew that she should probably meditate or at least attempt releasing her emotions into the Force, but the longer she worked, the more satisfying it was to fantasise about getting her own back. Her concentration wasn't exactly on the task, so it was hardly a surprise when she nicked her finger on a sharp edge. It was no big deal, and the padawan was fast to grab the med-kit and apply a bandaid. It was then, though, medical kit in hand, that an ingenious idea struck her. Before she had given this much thought, Raven had the small vial of laxative in her pocket and was back at her task. This was poetic justice at its best, if you asked Raven! Apparently four drops of this stuff were supposed to provide 'sufficient relief' and any more than eight drops would cause stomach pain, so the girl added six drops to Nereem's soup. Only to stare at it, dumbfounded. Had she really just done that? Force! Panicking, Raven shoved the vial in her pocket and picked up the soup to toss it down the sink when 5JPL approached, sounding flustered.

"Ah, very good, you are finished. The children are all hungry. Well done, Padawan Raven. I will take this to them for you immediately." He read the label on Raven's tray, took several bread rolls from the bench, spun and tottered off towards the royals' dining area.

Meanwhile, Raven just stared at his retreating back, mouth slightly open and frozen in horror.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: In the words of the Dark Lord himself: "Noooooo!"

Sorry guys, I accidentally posted that chapter to the wrong story, as most of you worked out. Ooops. Thank you for the kind reviews, and the heads up! It should be fixed now. If you want to leave another review in the correct story *ahem*, feel free to.

_Waves a hand before the collective audience_: "You remember nothing." _And then disappears into a puff of smoke_.

* * *

The meals for the royals and the Jedi were served in the large dining room by 5JPL and a small army of service droids. Eeth, Raven and Lakhri joined the royals once they were done with their work in the kitchen. They were seated next to the king and queen. The king seemed relatively composed, while the queen held a good deal of frustration about having to leave their planet. She alternated between moody silence and audible complaints. James simply looked bored while Nereem was her usual loud, opinionated self.

"This soup is utterly tasteless. Give me the salt, little Jedi," Nereem said distractedly, not bothering to look away from the conversation with her mother to so much as look at Raven.

Raven did not acknowledge the request, opting instead to continue helping with the youngest of their six children feed himself. She didn't mind this, it was fun making the speeder noises as she flew the spoon into his mouth. Besides, she was actively trying harder to improve her responses to Nereem's provocation. Okay, okay, so most of this newfound determination to do better came from guilt, but one had to start somewhere, right? Right!

"Are you deaf? I said I want the salt," Nereem reiterated, and now she shot Raven a scowl. She was not accustomed to being ignored, after all.

Raven had heard her alright, yet, as Eeth and Lakhri had suggested, she had ignored her. This approach was going to end up pissing her off even more, though, and so Raven used the Force to slide the shaker across, accidentally toppling it just as the princess reached out to take it.

"You did that on purpose. You could have just passed it to me instead of showing off," Nereem said, swiping the splash of salt onto the floor. A cleaning droid buzzed over as if it were expecting to be busy and had been ready and waiting.

"You might have asked politely, and perhaps I would have given your request a little more attention," Raven said evenly.

"So not worth my time!" Nereem shot back, waving a dismissive hand at her and turned back to complaining about the unfairness of having to leave her school and friends to her equally unhappy-looking mother.

Eeth's face remained impassive, but he was not pleased with Raven's display of temper, however sorely provoked, and he was also concerned. In her career as a Jedi, she would get to meet people who tried much harder to make her lose her composure than this spoilt brat of a princess. She needed to learn to comport herself with dignity, instead of falling for such taunts. Putting a hand on Raven's shoulder, he sent a wave of calm and comfort through their bond, together with a hint of a stern warning. "Ignore her, padawan," he murmured under his breath. "She is not worth it. If she gets out of hand, you let me deal with it. Try to act as if she does not affect you at all."

Not entirely placated, but managing to win the war thanks to a mixture of fear and encouragement from Eeth's efforts, Raven nodded and returned to her meal.

Nereem and Raven continued to exchange the odd terse comment, both girls clearly having it in for the other and neither willing to back down. That said, the padawan was making an effort not to rise to the provocation. It was after a particularly grating comment on the dull nature of people who dressed in beige (which Raven knew was aimed at her in particular) that she clenched her jaw and placed her napkin onto the unfinished meal.

"May I be excused?" she asked, purposefully ignoring the rest of their table and glancing at Eeth and Lakhri.

"No, padawan," Eeth said calmly. "We have not finished eating. Princess, the Jedi see no need to make ourselves more interesting by dressing in colorful clothes and I do not see how an extravagant dress would make an otherwise dull personality any less dull. But maybe you have different insights on the matter?"

Eeth may well have not been in the room for all the attention Nereem gave to his comments. However, she did smirk loudly at seeing him deny Raven's request to be excused.

"Honestly, some people have no manners," she said in a stage whisper to her mother and elegantly spooned the remainder of her soup. Raven was sorely tempted to use the force to upend the spoonful onto her dress but knew that would result in Eeth providing more entertainment at her expense for the princess. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

Unexpectedly, Nereem's father intervened at this point.

"Nereem, that is quite enough," he said firmly, and surprisingly, this shut his daughter up for a while.

"We are truly thankful for the Senate's offer to have you escort us to Coruscant," the king told Eeth politely. "My home planet's unfortunate political conditions are none of your fault, after all."

The conversation moved on to the Republic's political situation and the role of the Jedi therein until finally, lunch was over and the company started to rise from their seats.

"Now you know what I had to put up with when I put frogs into the prince's bed," Lakhri told Raven in an undertone while they left the dining room.

"Yes, and I still consider it one of your worst ideas," Eeth said sternly. "Raven, I know she is giving you a hard time. Ignore her. Anything else will only make it worse. You managed to do quite well eventually, when you made an effort."

"To be sure, contrary to popular belief, she will also get worse when she is ignored," Lakhri commented. "Not having an effect on you will rile her. But Eeth is right, there is no real alternative to just bearing the situation with dignity. She's not worth your while. Just remember that you are not likely to ever see her again once we have dropped her off at the Senate."

"I know, it's okay. I'm sorry I'm dealing with this so poorly," Raven said, her guilty conscience driving that response. "Still, I don't understand why you won't let me fight her at her own game, just a bit. It feels unfair to let her get away with it," she admitted, if only in order not to draw attention to herself. A little bit of backtalk was probably nothing Eeth or Lakhri hadn't heard or expected to hear from her, after all.

"What is not fair is that her parents indulge her spoiled and bratty behaviour and are willing to let her grow up into an insufferable woman," Eeth replied calmly. "While you, padawan, are raised to become a Jedi and to behave with all the dignity that goes along with that. Now go and get some rest. I will wake you in an hour or so, or you will not be able to sleep tonight."

Raven nodded. She did not want to be like Nereem, and if that meant it felt unfair at times, then so be it.

"Do I have to? You and Lakhri aren't resting, so I can hold out, too," she said, wanting to tough it out with them.

"No, you do not have to, but I would strongly advise you to," Eeth replied. "You are overtired and your mood might improve a lot with some rest. Remember, you still have dinner to get through, and I do not want any outbursts."

Raven stuck her nose in the air at this. "O, ye of little faith," she huffed. When this was ignored, she looked to Lakhri who just gave her an equally sympathetic and encouraging look. Resigned, the padawan had to admit that she was indeed tired, even if it meant denting her pride a little; she wasn't able to keep up with them and although this bothered her, apparently it was obvious to Eeth and Lakhri.

"Alright. Maybe just for a little bit, and only because I want to escape her royal brattiness," said Raven. It was a half-truth, but a harmless one.

* * *

Eeth withdrew to his room to meditate. He had missed out on a lot of sleep these past days, and while it was nothing he could not handle, he knew that meditation would help him build up his energy reserves. He was interrupted, however, by a comm call from the children's nanny who told him in urgent tones that the princess was quite sick, probably caused by a gastro-intestinal infection; she was suffering from severe bouts of diarrhoea and was quite nauseous. Did he happen to have medication?

Eeth sent 5JPL to the princess's room with some pills and a brew of the tea that Raven had found so horrible. Meanwhile, he went to seek out Lakhri, his brow creased in concern. Maybe he would have been less suspicious if he had not already raised one padawan with a vindictive streak; as it was, he could not help thinking that there might be more to the princess's sudden illness than a virus she had caught. Raven had been preparing the princess's meal. She would easily have been able to slip something into her food.

Lakhri, unfortunately, reluctantly agreed that his suspicions were not unreasonable. Raven had quite obviously allowed the princess to get to her. Admittedly, Nereem had gone out of her way to annoy her!

"You will simply have to ask her when she wakes up," Lakhri said.

"That I will do," Eeth said grimly. "Could you take care of things for a while?"

"Sure," said Lakhri. "Umm… in case she really HAS put something into the princess's food, is there any chance that you might, I dunno, go easy on her?"

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "What do you think?" he asked silkily.

Lakhri just sighed and waved him away.

Raven sat bolt upright when Eeth entered her room. "I was already awake," she lied through a yawn, not wanting to admit that she had, in fact, passed out the moment her head hit the pillow.

She was a little groggy but had to admit that she felt far less inclined to tear Nereem's head off and pee down the hole. At least for now; the princess did have a way of getting under her skin to a degree that Raven had not yet experienced.

"I suggest you go to the refresher," Eeth, who did not believe this in the slightest, said, "clean yourself up a little and then come back here. I need to talk to you."

"You do?" And then, thinking that this sounded like she had something to hide, Raven feigned a cough. "'Course," she said smoothly and did as bade. Raven's gut instinct was screaming at her that something was off, though, and she just hoped that it wasn't anything to do with Nereem.

Five minutes later, the padawan reappeared to find that Eeth looked rather serious. A serious-looking master was never a good thing which had Raven honestly wondering what he knew because surely he couldn't know anything about what she had done to Nereem. "What happened, is Lakhri alright?" she asked, the concern genuine.

"Oh, Lakhri is fine," Eeth said evenly. "The princess, however, is decidedly unwell. She has been struck by a sudden bout of diarrhoea, apparently. Forgive me if I am uttering unfounded suspicions here, but would you happen to have anything to do with this? A yes-or-no answer will suffice."

Raven visibly paled, her stomach went cold and she just stared at him like a bantha caught in headlights.

Eeth's face hardened. "So what did you do?" he demanded to know, and his tone of voice made it very clear that he expected a truthful, complete and prompt answer.

Raven sat on her bed, folding her arms across her chest. She wasn't being defensive, it was more a self-soothing gesture.

"I might have put some laxative in her soup," she admitted. Then, she got to her knee and raised both hands in placation in an effort at confessing the rest of this with suitable contrition. "I didn't mean to cause her more than mild discomfort, though, I swear to the Force I didn't. It was a bad idea, a spur of the moment thing I swear it was. I was about to tip it out, but then 5JPL took it and I didn't know what to do and it was all happening really fast," she rambled.

"How much laxative?" Eeth asked sharply, decidedly unimpressed. He did not care for Raven's attempts at justifying her actions; for that matter, he did not believe there to be any valid justification for putting medication into someone else's food. Before addressing any of this, though, he needed to make sure that the princess did not require medical attention.

"Only six drops. I wasn't actually trying to take her out here or anything," Raven replied, hoping that restating that she meant no real harm might work in her favour.

"I see," Eeth said cuttingly. "You were just trying to get your own back. How very jedilike. Pants down and bend over the bed, bottom up."

He did not feel like wasting his breath on explaining the obvious. What his padawan had done was completely and utterly unacceptable, whether it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision or not, and he did not ever want a repeat performance. Period. His belt, he thought, would teach this lesson better than words ever could.

Horrified, and again acting without thinking, Raven did something she had never dared try before: she made a run for it. Fueled by adrenaline and hoping to catch Eeth off guard, the padawan blurred towards the door. She knew she deserved to be punished for what she had done, but she figured that if she could just make it to Lakhri, the man might talk him around to seeing her side of this and maybe, just maybe, Eeth wouldn't be so harsh.

Raven might be fast, but her master was faster, and he had excellent reflexes. Before she could even make it to the door, Eeth had grabbed her upper arm and spun her around.

"If you ever want to make a bad idea worse," he growled, "then try running from the consequences. You have earned yourself another spanking tonight after dinner."

"Wait, what? Aw, noo!" Raven whined, but her protests fell on deaf ears as Eeth propelled her towards the bed, bent her over the footboard, divested her of her trousers and underpants and pulled his belt free.

"I asked you to pull yourself together where the princess is concerned," Eeth snapped while doubling the belt over and getting a secure grip on it. "Had you heeded my instructions, you would not find yourself in this position now."

"I trieeeddd!" Raven whined upon hearing the tell-tale sign of his belt being pulled free; she didn't want a belting, it was really, really going to hurt! Unfortunately, the truth was that she'd expected this level of reaction from him, even though she didn't want it.

"I don't want to hear it," Eeth said, cracking the belt across her backside with considerable force. "Your behaviour is inexcusable, and you know it. You are not a five-year-old initiate any more, you are a padawan and a representative of the Jedi Order. I expect better from you." He brought the belt down a second and third time, and he certainly did not hold back much.

Raven let out a loud yelp at each whack, but at the same time she knew he was right; not that this information did much for her now… The force Eeth was putting into each lick was taking the breath from her, and with each smack, she only just managed to regain it in time to let out a deafening howl, which quickly turned into sobbing.

Eeth, however, was seriously displeased, and he wanted to make this fact very clear to his errant padawan. He meted out a full dozen hard strokes of the belt. Unsurprisingly, Raven twisted, writhed and howled loudly until she couldn't stand it any more and lay limp, wailing loudly into the bedspread, which did not deter Eeth from completing the count. To make things worse, the last four were laid right on the crease where Raven's buttocks met her thighs and slightly below. Only when that was done, did he rethread his belt, waiting for Raven to regain a minimum of composure.

By this stage, composure and Raven were no longer on speaking terms. Her ass and thighs were on fire, and it was only through sheer stubbornness of will and a belief that she had deserved it, that she managed to stumble to her feet and stand tall and dignified. Or at least she attempted it; Raven was still crying, her shoulders shaking and face a mess.

Unfazed, Eeth walked her over to the desk, pulled out the chair and made her sit down on it, preventing her instant reaction at holding her weight off the chair. The seat was padded, but he was sure that sitting would be more than a little uncomfortable even with padding. He put a datapad in front of her and said, "You are going to write an essay detailing the reasons for why what you did to the princess was unacceptable and unworthy of a Jedi padawan. I expect that essay to be exhaustive, accurate and void of attempts to justify your behaviour. If the result does not meet my expectations, I am going to erase everything and make you start over. Only when I am convinced that you have understood completely and entirely why what you did was wrong will you be allowed to get up and will I perform some healing. I do not want to see your backside leave that chair for even a second before that."

Given that his instructions were far too clear to question, Raven simply nodded, her sobs now reducing to sniffles as Eeth turned and went to sit down at the other desk in her cabin. Without seeming to pay Raven further mind, he started to work on his mission report which was going to contain a favourable assessment of Raven's performance, recent events notwithstanding.

Despite spending an hour or so wriggling endlessly, her backside still burned which was making concentration very difficult. As a result, the essay Raven finally completed was rough and bullet-point style, although it did explain all the reasons she could think of that made her actions unacceptable while making no attempts at justification. When she could stand it no longer, Raven saved her work.

"Master?" she said to his back. "I'm done with it now. Please, can I get up?" Her ass was on fire.

Eeth accepted the data pad wordlessly, perused its contents, swiped across to erase and handed it back to Raven, ignoring the look of absolute horror on her face.

"No, oh, no! Don't! Don't do that, WAIT…" but it was too late. Eeth had already erased an hour's worth of painstaking effort and Raven looked as if he had just taken her lightsaber.

"I said an essay, not a list," Eeth said levelly. "Get back to work."

He knew he was being harsh. He also knew that he did not want to have to repeat this lesson under any circumstances. Stooping down to exacting petty revenge and risking their charges' health in the process could seriously jeopardise missions, let alone people's lives. In contrast to Lakhri with his poisonous frogs, Raven had at least put a minimum of thought into avoiding serious harm, but she had still been willing to take the risk of allergic reactions or other side effects. He needed to make it abundantly clear to her that this was not to be tolerated, ever.

Still utterly horrified, but equally unwilling to argue further, Raven reluctantly sat and began again.

It took another hour and a half of wriggling, writhing, fidgeting and simpering before the next draft was finally finished. This time, however, it had a lot more thought put into it. She contemplated backing up the file on the main server just in case he erased it but knew he'd only find it and then she would be in more trouble.

"Master, pleeease, can I get up now?" It had been FORever!

"Only when this essay is sufficient," Eeth declared.

He read through the contents of the data pad, thought for a moment and finally said, "This is adequate. You may get up and lie down on the bed."

The second Eeth released her, Raven sprang up from the chair and reached back to fan her ass, all the while making sure that she paid attention to what he was saying despite her desperation.

"I will perform some healing on your bottom," Eeth continued, ignoring her antics. "But only enough for you not to wiggle around too much during dinner. I do not want the royal family to notice that you have been punished, or they might come to the right conclusions, and we do not want that. Understood?"

"Yes, master, understood," she said, trying desperately to lose the sulky attitude while yanking up her pants just enough to make walking possible.

Slumping onto her belly, the padawan wriggled around to lift her tunic out of the way, scrunched down her pants and put her head down on her arms. Her ass was so sore that even the thought of his healing touch was not pleasant, and the idea of having to be spanked again was not something she could fathom in her current state, although she hoped after some healing it wouldn't feel as bad.

Eeth spread an extremely thin layer of bacta across the welts on Raven's bottom and let some healing energy flow into the area. This was going to be bearable, but still quite uncomfortable. He wanted Raven to remember this lesson when she next sat down for a meal.

"It is unlikely the princess will be present for dinner," he said calmly. "But that small reprieve is only going to last for so long. You need to get your temper under control and to refrain from taking revenge, or your bottom will pay an even higher price."

He flipped Raven's tunic back onto her bottom, drawing a groan from the girl (she could have done with more healing if anyone had asked her), and rested a comforting hand on her back. "Padawan, you have been a real asset to this mission while on Larivan," he said quietly. "But the mission is not complete yet. This trip is not merely your lift back to the Temple, it is part of our mission. Do not spoil your excellent performance now. Never forget who you are and what your duty is."

"I know, and I won't, I promise," said Raven, struggling up onto her knees and pulling up her pants with quite some effort; it had not been a light punishment by any stretch of the imagination and she still felt it. She nodded, pleased to hear that he was not planning to obliterate her mission performance because she had messed up.

"Alright," Eeth said, standing up. "Let us go to the kitchen and see if we can help 5JPL and Lakhri."

He offered her a hand, which Raven accepted.

She wasn't exactly happy with him, but nor did she blame Eeth for punishing her over this. Force, had a padawan of hers done similar, she would have been pissed off, too! Despite this, the fact that Lakhri would know what had happened was still embarrassing for her. Thus, she entered the kitchen slightly behind Eeth, her posture demure and sheepish. A quick glance at the menu list showed that Nereem's dinner was being prepared by Lakhri and the queen's by 5JPL. Taking the king's and one of the younger children's menu plans from the pile, Raven went about preparing the processors without comment, her eyes puffy and face still slightly red.

Glancing at Raven briefly, Lakhri immediately knew what had been going on. It did not surprise him very much; Raven had clearly let the princess get to her, and from his own experience as a padawan, Lakhri knew how easy it was to succumb to temptation and do something stupid. He had eventually learned to resist temptation, however, as Eeth tended to be supremely unforgiving about such things. That had apparently not changed.

He stepped up behind Raven and put a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"So you did put something in the princess's lunch, huh?"

"I did," Raven replied, not looking nearly as happy or proud of herself as she thought she might at having such a conversation with Lakhri.

"Well, she's still stuck to the toilet, from what I hear," said Lakhri. "Can't say I pity her, but Eeth probably wasn't too impressed."

"He wasn't. I got a belting, possibly the worst one so far," she confided, but her tone was sombre, not sullen.

"Humph," Lakhri merely grunted. "At least you didn't get spanked every night for a week and have to write lines on top of it. I've always thought he had a soft spot for you. – Admittedly, a laxative is not quite as dangerous as the frogs I used," he added honestly; he hadn't been aware of it at the time, but the allergic shock could have been fatal for the prince.

For the first time since meeting Lakhri, Raven seriously contemplated the validity of the claim that Eeth might actually have a soft spot for her. Maybe it was because she was a 'her'? Or, "Maybe he just wore himself out on you, so by the time he got to training me, he had mellowed?"

Lakhri chuckled. "Maybe so," he said good-naturedly. "I assume I was a handful."

Raven wasn't quite sure how to react to hearing that. She hadn't actually meant it, after all. Wincing, she met him with a look that was just a little bit more serious. "I'm not getting the mean and evil treatment, but he is spanking me again after dinner," she confessed.

Lakhri raised his eyebrows. "Did he consider your offence that bad or did you do something to earn you extra trouble?" he asked. Since he knew Eeth's habits quite well, he suspected the latter.

"I might have tried to run from him," she admitted, feeling ashamed. It was frowned upon for a Jedi to avoid discipline, and Raven had not only tried to get out of it, but actively tried to flee. She looked up at him sheepishly.

Lakhri rolled his eyes. "Stupid," he said wryly.

"I know," she agreed, although being in her position it wasn't exactly easy to accept that she was going to get her ass handed to her for a second time, even if she had earned it.

It was at that moment that the children's nanny entered, carrying the pot of Eeth's herbal tea and looking rather dishevelled as if she had just survived an encounter with a sand dragon.

Raven immediately removed her hand from her backside and turned towards the meal preparations.

"Master Jedi. Thank you for offering the tea. It was kind of you, yet unfortunately I am unable to get Nereem to drink it. Apparently, the taste is not to her liking," said the children's nanny, placing the concoction onto the countertop and swiping a few chunks of hair that had obviously been ripped from her ponytail back into place. "She is already badly dehydrated but refuses to eat or drink anything. If she continues on like this, we will be forced to give her fluids intravenously," the woman said in an exasperated tone. Clearly, she was tired and beginning to lose patience with the girl.

"Thank you for your efforts," Eeth said calmly, picking up the pot of tea. "I will talk to the princess and see to it that she stops this unreasonable behaviour. After all, the health of our passengers is my personal responsibility." He left the kitchen in brusque strides.

"Whoa," said Lakhri, grinning. "The princess won't know what hit her."

Raven had to agree, and for a split second, she actually felt sorry for the princess… But it was only for a second because, given Eeth's determined gait, the princess was not going to leave this encounter without doing as she was told. Raven looked to Lakhri, eyes slightly wide, and shrugged. "He's old, that's her only chance," she said as 5JPL went rushing after him with hot towels.

Lakhri snorted. "He's not," he said. "Not by a long shot."

Raven rolled her eyes, but refrained from contradicting him here, if only because she had the presence of mind to know that at her age, EVERYONE was considered old!

Lakhri raised his eyebrows and added, "Which made running from him an even worse idea. Whatever did you think you'd accomplish by doing so?"

Again, the girl looked uncomfortable. She fidgeted. "I thought that maybe if I got to you, you might be able to talk Eeth into a less severe consequence," she confessed, squirming. In hindsight, this was utterly illogical.

Lakhri snorted. "Talk Eeth out of punishing you harshly for a stunt like this?" he asked, conveniently failing to mention that he had actually tried to do exactly that, however half-heartedly. "What do you think I am, a superhero? Besides, forgive me if I say so, but it did merit punishment."

"I know that," Raven said without particular ire. "I wasn't trying to get out of being punished altogether, I just didn't want a belting. He did it really hard, you know, I think he might even have taken a run up!"

It had briefly crossed her mind to follow Eeth, but she knew he would not approve for a number of reasons, least of all that taking pleasure in another's discomfort was not at all jedilike, and it was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

* * *

Meanwhile, Eeth strode towards the princess's room, his face set in a mixture of sternness and determination that would make any thought of resistance evaporate instantly in anyone who knew him. Which, of course, the princess did not – a fact that he was entirely aware of.

He knocked on the princess's door and, barely giving it two seconds' time, opened it and marched inside.

"I hear you refuse to drink or take your medication," he said abruptly. "May I ask what you are hoping to accomplish by this?"

Nereem was pale, weak and feeling completely and utterly drained. Fighting off her nanny had been an arduous ordeal, so when Eeth barged into the nursery, teapot in hand, the princess was furious.

"I am not out to accomplish anything, other than not drinking that poison!" she spat petulantly. Then, when her dehydrated brain caught up to the moment, she met him with an indignant expression. "How dare you enter without permission. I can see where your child gets her appalling manners from," she spoke, not quite managing to articulate her words as clearly as she usually would due to her dry mouth.

Eeth put a finger under her chin and tilted her head upwards, forcing her to meet his eyes.

"Now listen carefully, because I am not going to repeat myself," he said in a voice of deadly calm. "I am in charge of this ship, and it is my duty to escort you and your family to Coruscant, safely and in good health. I do not care what I have to do to achieve that goal. You are behaving like a spoilt brat, and if I have to put you over my knee like a spoilt brat in order to make you see reason and take your medicine, I will not hesitate to do so. Now are you going to drink this tea, plus a glass of rehydrating fluid, or do you need more forceful persuasion?"

"Enough of this!" Nereem demanded, slapping his hand away from her chin as she rose. He was a lot taller than her own father, yet Nereem had an innate sense of her own superiority that came from being raised as a member of the royal family; she was not easily intimidated. Her manner was clear and dignified, yet despite how well she had been schooled in hiding her emotions, Eeth had actually unnerved her with his threat. Given that she was not accustomed to being spoken to like a child any more than she was to being told what to do, the princess felt the need to assert her authority here. No hired help had ever gotten away with trying to 'manage' her and that was not about to change now.

"How dare you threaten me. If you so much as lay a finger on me, I will have you arrested. You may be in charge of this ship, but you are certainly not in charge of me," Nereem scolded as if she were speaking to a small child who dared to eat with his fingers.

"And whom exactly would you order to arrest me?" Eeth asked coolly. "I am in charge of this ship as well as of its passengers. Your father agreed to this before you boarded. If he had not done so, your planet's law enforcement officials would have marched you right into prison. I am neither your servant nor your subject, but a Jedi Master representing the Republican Senate who is kind enough to offer you refuge. Calling you to task for your childish behaviour does not seem to be particularly daring to me. Now are you going to comply with my instructions or do you prefer to have your backside paddled?"

Nereem had never actually thought of who would arrest him now, and it just occurred to her that perhaps she did not have the backup after all. Incensed by this revelation, she did the only thing she had left in her arsenal to do, other than complying with his unreasonable request.

"Nanny! Fetch my father at once, I wish to have this man removed from my sight," she ordered, speaking to the room adjacent. Without bothering to wait for a reply, she slumped back into the settee and began wiping her hands and face with the hot towel provided by 5JPL who was uncharacteristically silent. Eeth might not have been in the room for all the attention Nereem paid him now. This behaviour was a bluff, though, as the teen was actually acutely aware of Eeth and his movements. If he so much as moved a hair in her direction, she was running for her father immediately.

Eeth would allow no one to ignore him if he wanted to make a point, and an obnoxious former princess was certainly no exception. Furthermore, he was not going to leave before the princess had taken her medication and some fluid, and she seemed to require more forceful persuasion before she did so.

"If you want it that way, so be it," he said evenly. Fast as lightning, and before she had a chance to run, he had grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, sat down on the settee and dragged her across his knees. He flipped the back of her dressing gown up, pulled the paddle out of his belt and started smacking it all over her bottom hard and fast.

Alright, so Nereem had not expected him capable of moving that fast. Thus, when she found herself staring down at their carpet, she was both shocked and horrified. This was simply not going to happ… "Ow! How dare you! FATHER! NANNY! I'm being … Ahhouch! MURDERED!" she squealed, her pride taking as much of a battering as her rear end.

When nobody came running to her aid — even 5JPL had backed up and was now standing by the entrance to their nursery — Nereem started fighting back. She tried to kick, punch, bite, tear and knee Eeth in any place that she could reach, although given her current state of health, she was fast exhausting herself, not to mention the pain was like nothing the princess had ever experienced, literally: she had never been spanked in her life.

Even if in splendid health, the princess would have been no match for Eeth. He held her securely with his left arm and continued to spank and spank, entirely unmoved by her antics; any attempt to kick or bite him was rewarded with even harder swats that reverberated across the room.

"You may end this any time you like," he said conversationally. "As soon as you agree to drink your tea and a glass of rehydrating fluids, I will stop this at once."

"Never! You HAVE no righttttowwww!" Nereem tried to screech, but it turned into a whimper.

It was at this point that the king entered the room, momentarily stunned at the scene he was witnessing.

"FATHER, DO SOMETHING! Get him off me!" Nereem demanded.

"Your excellency," Eeth said, cool and perfectly composed, without letting up on the princess for even a second.

"Master Koth!" the king said, obviously unable to believe his eyes. "Errr… the children's nanny has informed me that my daughter has refused to drink and take her medication. Well, umm, obviously you are dealing with the issue. Fine, fine. I'll leave you to it."

He could not suppress a slight smirk as he backed out of the room, completely ignoring Nereem's requests for help; his daughter had been an insufferable brat lately, and he could not help thinking that it served her right.

"Father, NO! How could YOU!? Wait, OW! until I, Oww! tell! OWW! mother!" But the threat carried little weight as she had started sniffling. Apparently, her father was okay with this, okay with leaving her to be brutalised by this maniac. Suddenly the realisation that her options were as limited as they were unappealing had the girl start to cry in earnest. "P-please?" she begged him, giving up trying to pound him with her fists in order to block further assaults on her backside. Her pride was now mortally wounded at being reduced to pleading with this monster but Nereem simply didn't have any fight left in her, so she simply lay there with her face in her hands and cried.

Eeth stopped immediately. After all, it was not his job to teach the royal brat a lesson. He merely wanted to achieve compliance where her healing was concerned. "Are you done defying our attempts to make you get better, then?" he asked mildly, his paddle still hovering threateningly over her bottom.

Nereem wanted badly to tell him exactly what he could do with his attempts. However, she thought better of it upon glancing over her shoulder. Horrified at seeing him holding some sort of bread remover over her, the princess immediately twisted sideways, keeping both hands over her backside.

"I will drink the stupid tea, just let me GO!" she sobbed, trying to wriggle her way free and feeling utterly humiliated at having to do as he said.

"Good," Eeth said curtly. Of course, he would never let his own padawan get away with such disgraceful behaviour, but this was not a padawan of his, merely a silly girl who needed fluids in order to prevent herself from requiring medical attention. He watched like a hawk as the princess drank all of the tea, ignoring her griping and dramatics, and then he made her drink a tall glass of rehydrating fluid before declaring himself satisfied.

"I will bring another glass later," he said, again, ignoring the daggers she was glaring at him. "Try to rest until then. If you cooperate, you will be fine by tomorrow."

He deliberately refrained from offering any healing; a little reminder of who was in charge here would do much to make this trip easier, after all.

"You can stick…" she started in response to his parting comment. However, it took no more than a single raised brow from the Jedi to silence her. Infuriated by her lack of courage, Nereem rolled back into the couch for all of five minutes before the fluid hit her stomach and she was off again.

Empty teapot in hand, Eeth returned to the kitchen, calm and composed. Lakhri, Raven and 5JPL had just finished dinner preparations. Eeth dumped the remains of the tea into the bin and set the teapot into the sterilizer.

Raven looked up from her work as Eeth reentered, the pounding of a now empty teapot against the bin causing her to smirk. Apparently, Nereem had lost that encounter.

"You can't really blame her, that tea is disgusting," Raven said with a grin and leaned back into the bench. Eeth did not look at all dishevelled, but Raven could tell that whatever had gone on had not exactly thrilled him.

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "Maybe I would not have minded that much if she at least had consented to drinking a glass of water," he said drily. "As it is, I have no desire to play doctor for a seriously dehydrated girl, so I made sure she drank the tea AND some fluids. Now let us go to the dining room."

Again, Raven simply smirked, although she was careful not to overdo it. After all, it was her fault that Nereem was in that state to begin with.

The princess was absent during dinner, which improved the atmosphere decidedly. The crown prince made a noted effort at drawing Raven into a conversation. Eeth noticed that his padawan was hard-pressed to sit still, but she just managed. He would provide some more healing after the spanking she had coming, but a little lingering sting might remind her to keep things together.

By the time their meal came to a close, Raven and James were deep in conversation over strategies for obtaining the best fatality moves in their combat hologame – so much so that it wasn't until Eeth and Lakhri actually stood that the padawan noticed the king and queen had already left the table. She looked up at the two men, but before she could make a request for more time, James spoke up.

"Mind if we go play games for a while? I want to test some things out," he asked, looking at Eeth and Lakhri. He had managed to work out that, for whatever reason, Raven needed to ask to do a lot of things that he did not. That was fine. James was quite astute at working out how to get what he wanted, and if playing the Jedi at their own game achieved his goals, so be it.

"I am afraid my padawan has no time right now," Eeth said politely. "We have her schedule and her classwork to discuss, among other things. She will have some free time tomorrow and you are welcome to spend it with her. Come, padawan. Excuse us, your excellency."

He gave a slight bow and, without waiting to see whether Raven was following, turned and made his way to their room.

"Sorry... I'll play you tomorrow, but only if you tell me what these 'raves' are and why they're the best kind of party," she told James as Eeth walked off. She was fast to catch him, however, and was by his side before he made the door.

"Why won't you let me go?" she asked when they were well out of earshot. "I did all my school work on the way here," she reminded him, looking from Eeth to Lakhri in hopes of having the younger Jedi back her up.

"Padawan, did you really want me to tell the prince that I promised you a spanking after dinner?" Eeth asked. "I do not usually break my promises."

Lakhri just gave a shrug and a sympathetic smile; this was a matter between Eeth and Raven, and he did not really think he should get involved.

"Well, no, of course not," Raven replied, shooting him a piteous expression. "But can't you make an exception just this one time? I mean, you already punished me, and it's not like I can sit down as it is!" she complained, now focusing her attention on Eeth as it became clear Lakhri was not coming to her rescue.

The expression on Eeth's face darkened considerably. "Padawan, you brought this upon yourself," he snapped. "Had you not tried to run from me, we would not be having this conversation. As it is, I am going to make sure you will not run from me again. And now we will go to my room, unless you prefer me to deal with you right here on the spot?"

The look Raven gave him here was a mix between disbelieving and sullen, yet she still found herself edging to put Lakhri between them, just in case. Unwilling to find out how serious he was, Raven turned and made for his room, taking as much time as she could get away with. Her body language conveyed exactly what she thought of this, though: her arms were tightly crossed about her chest, gaze was lowered and she was pouting at the floor the entire way.

Eeth ignored the pout. He could not exactly expect his padawan to be happy about being spanked, after all. Having closed the door to his room behind them, he sat down unceremoniously on the desk chair and said simply: "You know the drill, padawan."

Unfortunately, she did, although knowing what to do didn't make it any easier, and only the memory of what had happened the last time she took too long had the apprentice immediately moving to his side. Still pouting, Raven reluctantly pulled up her tunic, scrunched her trousers and underpants to her knees and bent herself over his lap. Only once she was staring at the floor did she deem it safe enough to start pleading.

"Master, c'mon. Pleeease be reasonable about this. I'm sorry, I won't ever do it again, I promise! It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing," she begged. Those had been happening a lot lately, it would seem.

"Then learn to control your impulses," Eeth snapped. "Which is exactly what this punishment is about." He adjusted her position over his lap to his liking and raised his arm.

Raven felt him move, and out of sheer desperation she twisted to face him. "You aren't being fair. I wasn't trying to get out of it completely, just to make it less horrible," she whined.

Eeth's eyes narrowed. "I am about done being lectured about fairness tonight," he snapped. "If you want to write an essay on the concept of fairness and its misuse, and want to write it on the sore bottom you are about to receive, you are going about it the right way."

"I don't, I don't. I'm sorry!" Raven said quickly, attempting damage control. Because if there was one thing worse than being given a sore ass, it was having to sit on it for hours afterwards.

Eeth knew that he was being harsh. But then, his padawan's revenge on the princess had been completely unacceptable, and running from her deserved punishment was something he did not want to encourage. Thus, he raised his hand and brought it down onto the centre of her bottom. He did not quite use full force, but even the use of moderate force meant that his large, calloused and hard hands would leave quite an impression.

Raven had yet to experience a swat from Eeth that did not leave an impression; it always hurt, a lot! However, she had to admit it probably felt far worse at the moment due to the fact that she had already endured round one earlier today. Not bothering with any attempts to remain stoic, the padawan yelped at the first few swats and then cried loudly as the sting from earlier was quickly reignited.

Eeth believed that if a spanking did not hurt, it had not fulfilled its purpose, and true to that conviction, he delivered a very sound spanking now, not leaving an inch of Raven's bottom unattended. Only when the skin was a solid red did he pause briefly – to pull out the small paddle and add another half dozen to the count. He hoped that Raven would think twice before she made that particular mistake again.

Okay, so Raven had expected this to hurt. What she had not expected was for Eeth to pull out the paddle! Her protestations redoubled at this new eventuality, going from steady sobbing to outright wails in a heartbeat.

"Ow! Waaaiit no! YEoowUCH!" she cried, and despite knowing it would accomplish nothing positive, she could not help but reach back. Twisting at the waist, Raven tried desperately to wriggle her backside from the line of fire. She was taking this rather poorly, which was not typical of her, but then, she had been through a lot and this was just the icing on the cake.

Eeth easily caught Raven's hand and pinned it to the small of her back, effectively keeping her from wriggling free. He continued to wield the paddle, unabashed, until he had meted out the half dozen, then put it on the desk and laid a comforting hand on Raven's back. "All over now, padawan," he said calmly, sending a burst of affection and reassurance through their bond.

Wailing loudly, the padawan entertained many inventive scenarios of how that paddle could be disposed of, and it wasn't until her sobbing began to even out that she started to regain enough composure to benefit from the affection he offered. She lay there for an unusual amount of time before eventually pushing herself up. Raven would always attempt to retain her dignity, but doing so while having your ass handed to you was a tall order. Still, she managed to stand up straight, her arms crossed about her chest, and sniffled at the floor.

Eeth stood up as well and offered her a hug. "No more misbehaviour during this mission, please," he said quietly. "There are better ways to spend our time."

"Yes, master," she managed to sniffle out. That had stung, yet Raven did by no means hate Eeth for having spanked her. That said, she was twelve years old and far from ready to forgive him. Thus, while grateful for the comfort he offered, Raven continued to grizzle and cry onto his shoulder, indulging in a little self-pity and wishing all sorts of horrors upon the universe at large.

Eeth let her be for the moment. As a padawan with an easily-wounded pride, he had occasionally held a grudge against his master for having been spanked as well, but it had never lasted long. He continued to hug Raven for a while, whereupon said calmly: "I will perform some healing now. After that, I would like us to meditate."

That meditation was in her near future was hardly a surprise; it often followed punishment and she had learned to expect it. Typically, though, Eeth did not join her for these meditations. That he planned to this time brought a tiny smile to her face. Perhaps she was going to survive this after all.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Heya all. Thanks for the IM's and reviews! This chapter depicts violence in the way of a video game. Again, it's nothing you wouldn't expect from a 90's arcade, but if it is going to wig you out, best to skip this chapter.

* * *

Eeth performed some healing on Raven's bottom; more than usual, in fact, because he did not want her sleep to be impaired. After all, she was still suffering from loss of sleep after their exhausting work on Larivan. When he was finished, he sat down on the bed, cross-legged, and asked her to sit opposite him. "We will work on releasing your emotions into the Force now," he said, and with a very slight smile he added, "I think you know the drill."

Raven gave him a sheepish look as she seated herself (carefully) opposite. "I was going to do that before and all, but then," her nose wrinkled, "we were all so busy with duties and the like that I didn't want to let the side down just so I could go deal with freakin' Nereem. You know?" The truth was that she had also just let Nereem get to her. Still, she doubted that Eeth would understand as he always seemed to choose the right path. That was a talent that Raven had no flair for, at least not at this stage of her apprenticeship.

Eeth gave her a scrutinizing look. "I understand the dilemma," he said slowly. "Has it occurred to you to turn to Lakhri or me for help?"

"Yes, but you already told me to ignore her, what else could you possibly do?" Raven replied while shifting around to get comfortable.

"I could have relieved you of your duties for a while to give you the time to meditate, obviously," Eeth said, raising his eyebrows.

"Which is exactly what I felt bad about doing." Raven knew what he was bound to say to such a statement and didn't disagree at this point; she had let Nereem get to her, and that was her fault. Thus, she just gave him a sheepish look.

"So you prefer to end up behaving inappropriately and being punished for it?" Eeth asked, his eyebrows rising even higher.

"Of course not," said Raven just a tiny bit defensively. She had expected that response from him, yet she was still unable to come up with a satisfactory response.

"Padawan," Eeth said, the tone of his voice a mix between patient and stern. "Your duties are important but keeping your temper in the face of provocation is also important. Whenever you are facing such a dilemma, talk to me. Whether you feel bad about it or not. If you neglect to do so and things go wrong, I will not hesitate to hold you accountable, as I did today."

"I know," Raven said, her reply covering both of Eeth's statements. She did feel bad for not asking for help and probably felt a bit worse for actually letting Nereem get to her when she knew better. Raven wasn't an easy personality to provoke, yet for some reason, Nereem was able to get under her skin like nobody else had. Force, not even Rayan, the boy who she had fought with during her first year as Eeth's apprentice, had pissed her off to this extent, not really. That had just been childish rivalry; Nereem was on a whole new level.

Eeth led her through half an hour of meditation. When they finally resurfaced from their trance, he said mildly, "This is what I expect you to do, as a young Jedi, when a person riles you. Not to give in to your frustration and try to get back at that person – even when she is as obnoxious as the princess who, I grant you, is an insufferable spoilt brat."

"So you agree she is an obnoxious, insufferable, spoiled brat, that's good." Raven stopped short of stating that he might have gone just a little easier on her for the fact, if only because she knew what he would say to that.

"She is," said Eeth. "But that is not our concern. We have not been tasked with her education, fortunately. So leave her be."

"Yes, master." And Raven really did plan to do just that. She was pretty good at avoiding people when she wanted to, and that was going to be the best way to beat Nereem at her own game. "So, given that she is such a glowing personality and all, how did you get her to drink your disgusting tea? I mean, you can lead a bantha to water and all…"

"That," said Eeth, "is none of your concern either."

Raven huffed at being fobbed off, but Eeth ignored it. "Do you really see me walking away when a silly teenage girl tells me she does not feel like taking her medication?" he inquired.

"No, but neither do I know how you got her to drink it. Did you pin her down and pinch her nose or something?" Raven wanted to know this because she new Nereem was not the cooperative sort, and she kinda knew how Eeth would deal with that. Hearing as much would be satisfying.

Eeth's eyebrows practically rose up to his horns. "Do you want me to reveal all the details of your more embarrassing moments to a broader public?" he inquired. "No, do not answer that, it was a rhetorical question. I assume you do not, and the same is most likely to be true for Nereem. When I say it is none of your concern, then it is none of your concern."

Raven chuckled. "Force, you spanked her, priceless! And I missed it. Ugh, is there no justice?" the padawan said, figuring that this would be the only thing he could have done that would be considered 'embarrassing' enough to warrant privacy, well at least as far as she was concerned.

"I did not say that," Eeth said forbiddingly. "And I do NOT want to discuss it. Period. Now go to bed. You hardly got any sleep last night."

Raven snorted at his dismissal. Still, she was placated; Eeth might not be willing to admit it, but Raven was happy that Nereem had gotten some of her own back. Standing, she gave a curt bow and left for her bedroom to get ready for bed.

* * *

As was typical, morning came well before the twelve-year-old was ready. That said, she had to admit that sleeping in a bed was far more comfortable than on a cave floor, or Eeth's thigh for that matter. Once finished in the refresher, she headed towards the stateroom where she sensed Eeth, doing her padawans' braid as she went.

"Morning, master," she greeted him with a bow as she had done just about every morning since becoming his apprentice and then slumped into a chair opposite him, yawning.

"Good morning, padawan," Eeth said with a slight smile, looking up from the message he was writing. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did. That bed is much softer than a cave floor." Raven looked around, not seeing anyone else. "Is Lakhri still sleeping, then?"

"Possibly," said Eeth. "I told him breakfast will be at eight-thirty which is an hour from now. I have not seen him yet."

"He gets to sleep in? Hardly seems fair."

"He gets to manage his own time," said Eeth, "because in contrast to you, he is an adult. Could you let me finish this message, please? I will be with you in half an hour to prepare breakfast. The royals will be served in their rooms by the protocol droids so we will eat in the kitchen by ourselves."

Raven leant over so she could see what he was working on, and then she gave him a shit-eating grin. "What's it worth to you?" She was teasing him, but as was typical, such things were like playing Territory Roulette when it came to Eeth and his sense of humour.

"The more appropriate question," said Eeth woodenly, "is 'what is it worth to you?' Or more specifically, your ability to sit. Go and do your morning meditation."

Yep, one serve of balloon, heavy on the lead. Raven scooted off the chair and was gone in a flash, though, because it was never wise to start the day on Eeth's shit list.

When Raven returned to the stateroom, she found that Eeth was still working, and Lakhri was _STILL_ nowhere to be seen. Of course, she could go and start the breakfast preparations or offer to help in some other way, but for some reason, today she was in a playful mood and scaring the tar out of Lakhri seemed like a good idea. So, she left Eeth to whatever it was he was doing and slunk out of the room once again. Plan now fully formed, Raven took off to terrorise Lakhri.

Entering full stealth mode, or at least as much of it as she could manage at her unskilled level, Raven crept into Lakhri's room and silently made her way to his bed where she could see his eyes were closed.

Contrary to what she thought, though, Lakhri was not really asleep. He had, however, hoped to be allowed to sleep in. He was also hoping that Raven would be deterred by his pretence of sleeping.

No chance! Raven was completely unaware that Lakhri was playing possum and thought her plan was playing out flawlessly. She got as close to his bed as she could to avoid hurting him, and then she jumped, screeching at the top of her lungs.

"QUICK, LAKHRIIIII! FIRE HAS DESTROYED ALL THE FOOD AND WE'RE ALL GONNA STARVE!"

Lakhri groaned in exasperation. "Go away," he grumbled, pushing Raven off him. "Leave me alone. Shoo!"

"Awww! You weren't even a little bit scared!? That's so not fair," she huffed, sliding to her feet and feeling totally put out at having such a well-thought-out plan thwarted.

"Scared?" Lakhri mumbled. "Nope. Now let me stay in bed for half an hour longer. What happened to respecting your elders, anyway? If you don't leave right now, I will think up a horrible punishment for you."

He wasn't serious, of course – except for the part where he wanted her to leave.

Raven knew this; she also knew the limitations to Lakhri's patience and roughly how far she could push him before the shit hit the fan.

"Okay, be like that, then," she said through a grin and left him be. Luckily for him, Raven thought he looked rather worn out and cut him some slack. It was probably time to help with breakfast anyway.

Some time later, the three Jedi were seated around a small table in the kitchen. It was blissfully peaceful, and the look on Raven's face said as much. Now, if only their passengers chose to eat in their rooms all the time, everything would be perfect! Lakhri still looked slightly sleep-bedraggled, but otherwise presentable.

"So, what did you think of this mission?" Lakhri asked Raven. "Obnoxious princesses aside, did you like it?"

"Obnoxious princesses aside, yeah, I did. We succeeded in finding the royal family as well as helping out some locals in the process. I am happy with that. Besides –" She pointed her toast at him. "Anything is better than doing classwork at the Temple. Why, what did you think? Did you like your bit?" she queried, looking from Lakhri to Eeth.

Lakhri shrugged. "I was stuck at the palace, so it was not that thrilling. I was just curious how you liked all the action. There are padawans who discover after a few such missions that they'd rather join the diplomatic corps. You did not strike me as one of them, but you never know."

"A career in diplomacy? People have been shot for suggesting less than that," Raven replied through a short grin.

"I concur that it would be unlikely," said Eeth. "And I agree that this mission went smoothly, as missions go. You coped well, both with the rain and with the more physically strenuous parts. We will have to put in more practice with your sense of inanimate objects through the Force, though… and your ability to endure long speeder rides."

His face was impassive as he said that. Lakhri turned to Raven and whispered dramatically: "Force, Eeth has made a joke AGAIN. That makes two in a week or so. We should check his temperature."

"Two in a week. Yep, that's gotta be some sort of record. Master, do you need to lie down?" Raven added, smiling broadly; it was always fun when she and Lakhri ganged up on him.

"Yes, I can see how the two of you need a strenuous workout to blow off some steam," Eeth said in his usual dignified voice. And that was exactly what he gave them right after breakfast. He chased them through the cargo hold until even Lakhri was panting and sweating. Eeth knew how much long spaceship travel could get to people who were used to physical activity. Besides, they hadn't had much of a chance to use their lightsabers during their mission. Raven needed the practice.

"Alright," he finally conceded when it was obvious that his padawan was exhausted. "Go, take a shower and get ready for lunch."

"Yes, master," Raven tried to reply while catching her breath; they had run her ragged and Raven had loved every second of it. That had been one of the hardest physical workouts she could remember, and by the time she hit the showers, her muscles had developed an ache that she had learned to associate with an improvement in her physical prowess.

As much as she tried talking herself into it, Raven was not looking forward to lunch with the royals. She emerged from the refresher to find Eeth in the state room. Again, he was busy with some work or another.

"Hey," she said in way of greeting, sidling up to him; she had a plan.

Eeth looked up. "Is there anything you need from me?" he asked neutrally. "I would like to finish this section before lunch."

"Need" was a very strong word. Raven coughed to clear her throat.

"Um, not exactly, but I am feeling really tired after that workout. You and Lakhri totally worked me into the ground. Do you think I could lie down for a while instead of going to lunch?" she suggested, hoping that he would allow her to spend that time in her room. Force, almost anything would be preferable to enduring more of Nereem and her 'winning' personality!

"Hmm," Eeth remarked absent-mindedly, picking up his stylus again. "Nice try, padawan. You are going, and that is definite."

He started writing again, drawing a groan from Raven, whereupon he paused for a moment, laying his stylus onto the table.

"I do not think the princess will want to taunt you any longer while in my presence, if that is what concerns you," he said. "If she does, I will have a talk with her father. You just ignore her. Sit next to Lakhri and talk to him. Or talk to the other children."

"Yes, master," she sighed. At this point, having Eeth intervene might not be such a bad idea. Sure, at the Temple that was social suicide; having to run to your master for help was not exactly a good look. Then again, her Temple peers were nothing like Nereem, not even those like Rayan.

They still had a bit of time before lunch, so she excused herself, made for her bedroom and flopped backwards onto her bed, content to enjoy the moment of calm before the storm.

The king, prince and two of their four younger children were present when the three Jedi entered the dining room. Raven took a seat between Eeth and Lakhri who sat at the head of their table with the king, knowing that Nereem would sit with her mother on the other side. That effectively put her out of range for comfortable conversation; not that their exchanges to date could be considered 'comfortable'. She glanced over at the prince, who offered her a friendly smile, and returned it; he was a nice guy. In fact, the other children seemed nice enough, too, which had the padawan doubting whether or not Nereem's bitchy behaviour was entirely due to a spoiled upbringing. The thought was short-lived, though, since, as if on cue, the rather pale-looking princess and her mother entered the room, closely followed by their nanny who had one small child on her hip and another in tow behind her.

Once everyone was seated, the food began to arrive. Raven kept herself immersed in the conversations between Eeth, Lakhri, James and the king, doing her very best to pretend Nereem was not there.

"So, are you going to join us for an undignified defeat in the common room tonight, Raven?" James challenged her, causing Raven to smirk.

"Hardly. I plan to wipe the floor with you, as I have done the last few times," she replied, her grin matching his as the pair continued to banter about whose holographic character was going to annihilate the other's more spectacularly.

"Honestly, I thought the Jedi were supposed to be peacekeepers, yet the master uses violence as a means to get what he wants, and his child speaks of dismembering my brother on some silly game." Nereem said stiffly, not addressing anyone in particular but making certain everyone heard.

Raven flinched but otherwise managed to pull herself together, as Eeth had put it.

"Give it a rest, Nereem. This bitchy act isn't going to bring your friends back. We're not going back so you may as well accept it," said James. Like just about everyone, he was tired of listening to his sister take out her frustration on everyone else. And it actually was everyone else, too, Raven simply seemed to cop the brunt of it.

"You dare to lecture me on the virtues of attitude? At least I have feelings and don't bury them in death sticks!" Nereem retorted, looking supremely pleased with herself. The entire table fell silent at this comment; even the smaller children stopped eating and turned surprised expressions on their two oldest siblings.

"James?" the queen enquired her expression a mixture of concern and disbelief. The king, on the other hand, looked downright angry, and his tone confirmed it.

"Enough, both of you! Now is not the time to discuss this, but I can assure you, all of you," he said, meeting each of his children with a pointed look, "now that the responsibility of running Larivan is no longer mine, things are going to change, starting with respect and discipline." His remark effectively killed further bickering between James, Nereem and Raven.

Eeth's face remained impassive throughout the exchange. He was not surprised about the death stick issue, but felt confident knowing that they had confiscated the prince's stash. The king started to ask him questions about the Jedi Order and the kind of missions he usually undertook, and he and Lakhri were soon busy telling him stories from some of their more successful missions, leaving the princess and the queen to their own muttering. The princess had always been the queen's favourite, and in fact the only child she had ever shown an interest in, and it showed.

"You are free to do what you like for the afternoon," Eeth said in a rare show of indulgence when they rose from lunch. Raven had made a very good effort in their morning's workout session and was well ahead with her school work, and he was willing to reward that.

"A whole afternoon? For real? Are you absolutely positive that you aren't running a fever?"

"Would you rather work on your maths lessons?" Eeth asked, stony-faced.

"Aw, resorting to threats of a mathematical nature is just mean, even for you," she joked. Still, after appraising the look on his face that was all the cheek Raven was going to risk right now, and she took off before he could make good on his threat.

* * *

The next few days were trying for Raven as, like Lakhri had pointed out, the princess indeed became worse when she was ignored. That said, Nereem was also a lot more subdued while Eeth (and to a lesser extent, Lakhri) were around which, of course, Raven took full advantage of. During the meals where the Jedi were required to accompany the ex-royals, Raven made sure to sit between Eeth and Lakhri. The few times at which Nereem had the opportunity to get the padawan on her own, Raven simply left without a word. It infuriated Nereem, but short of actually attacking the girl, which was frowned upon, there wasn't a lot she could do about it.

It was after lunch on the fourth day of travel that Raven, James and Belinda were busy slaughtering each other on their hologame.

"Wait, wait a moment," Raven said, having sensed Eeth enter behind them. But no quarter would be given, and her brief lapse in attention cost her holo-character (an elegant Munn this time) its head to a pole-driving move that Belinda had been perfecting over the past few days.

"HA! Hahaha! Wasted you," Belinda squeaked, bouncing around triumphantly.

"That you did, and … OH! That's just nasty. I'm going to have a headache after that one," the padawan agreed, after seeing the buckled and broken mess that was left of her Munn.

"Savage. I'm gonna have to watch you, pip-squeak," James said fondly, ruffling his little sister's hair.

"You should play the winner, master," Raven suggested, inadvertently bringing his presence to the attention of the room.

"I was not going to," Eeth replied matter-of-factly, "but I assume you want me to?"

"Of course! You do the best fatalities I've ever seen. It would be rude not to share such a talent," said Raven. She turned her attention back to the centre of their room just in time to see James' Trandoshan kick a hole clean through Belinda's short humanoid that Raven likened to Yoda clad in goggles.

"Ewwww! James, OH! Look, your leg has guts all over it," Belinda squeaked, walking closer to get a better look as the playback started.

James laughed and turned to toss Belinda's discarded remote to Raven.

"Oh, um, hello," he greeted Eeth warily. It had not taken long for Nereem's comment at the dinner table regarding his use of physical violence to be questioned. Subsequently, every child on the ship now knew what had happened to their sister and approached Eeth with a mixture of caution and curiosity.

Raven caught the remote, punched in Eeth's settings and set it back on the couch. "Master is going to fight you. Don't worry, it will be awesome, I promise," Raven said, trying not to laugh at the horrified look James was doing his best to cover with fake bravado.

"Yes, but only because my padawan insists," Eeth replied, accepting the control. "Personally, I do not see the appeal of pretending to kick people's brains out of their heads. But you seem to enjoy it for some reason."

"What's not to love," James commented, unphased. "Raven tells us that you did a fatality on your first game. That's actually pretty cool." He gestured that Eeth take a spot opposite him and got ready to kick some ass.

"Oh, he didn't just do a fatality, he squashed my head with his foot. You know that's the only time I've actually seen an eyeball come out with the brain!" Raven amended, glancing at her master with a slightly reverent expression before stepping back to enjoy the show.

James was, of course, no match for Eeth's reflexes. Eeth made short work of flipping him onto his back and pinning him to the ground. "What happens now?" he asked. "Is there any procedure to arrest people, or do you have to kill in order to win?"

Raven dragged a palm down her face at Eeth's query. Belinda gave him a confused look, but James looked delighted. This sort of game was not designed to recognise passive tactics, and as such, it was unable to recognise being pinned as a move and simply returned James' character to a ready position. Eeth's character – Raven had given him a Gamorrean this time – remained in a crouching position, and looked rather vulnerable. Taking advantage of this pause, James launched himself at the Jedi; he was going down.

"How unrealistic," Eeth said in discontent, gliding aside so quickly that James hit the floor. "I mean," he continued while aiming a solid kick at the virtual James' head in order to ensure his death, "I would always try to disarm or immobilise my opponent if given the option. Why does the game assume I would want to kill?"

James looked sideways at Eeth for a moment, and then his gaze flicked to Raven. "Is he serious?" he mouthed.

"Masterrrrr! It's just a game," Raven whined good-naturedly, which answered James' question also.

"Yes, but it could be a realistic game," Eeth pointed out. "Look at all this blood. This is not what happens when you kick someone. It is possible, and usually preferable, to kill people without blood squirting in all directions. If you have to kill them at all."

Raven refrained from reiterating that this was just a game; there was little point when the person you were speaking with simply had no real concept of what you were talking about. Still, she did find his reactions to such things amusing, she always had.

Unmoved by Eeth's statement, James set about critiquing the angles at which blood now sprayed from his character's corpse while Belinda, who was now standing at Eeth's side, cocked her head to the side and eyed him quizzically.

"Have you ever killed anyone?" she asked, reaching out a hand to grasp the weapon at his hip.

Eeth moved away from the inquisitive hand and said calmly, but firmly: "This is a real weapon, not a toy. Please do not touch it. And yes, I have been forced to kill at times, although I have always tried to avoid it if at all possible."

Belinda withdrew her hand quickly when he moved away, blushing slightly with embarrassment. "Can I see it, then?" she pressed.

Raven was honestly surprised that Eeth had not roared at the kid. Still, she could kinda see where this was heading. Most kids outside the Temple were fascinated with exotic weapons, lightsabers and the like, so it wasn't exactly an unexpected question.

"I am sorry, but no," Eeth replied, but he said it kindly. "We do not perform for an audience. Raven, I need you to help prepare dinner now. You may have some more free time after dinner."

Belinda looked from Eeth to James, a confused expression on her face at his response.

Spotting his sister's confusion, James distracted her before she could start whining by starting up the game once again. "Hurry up, Binny, or I'll start without you," he said, laughing as the kid wheeled from her spot at Eeth's side and jumped on the remote.

"Wait, it's still set up for Goliath!" Belinda complained, rushing to input her settings before her brother started attacking her.

"You know, master, Belinda wasn't asking for a demonstration, she wanted to see your lightsaber," Raven explained as they left the room. She wasn't sure if he had understood her request, or if that was just his standard response to questions like that.

"I know. And I did not want to show her," Eeth replied. "I do not let just anyone handle my saber. If she is interested, you may offer her to watch tomorrow's kata practice after breakfast; but only if this does not distract you too much."

The padawan shrugged. "Sure, I'll tell her you said that," she replied as they wandered into the kitchen.

Dinner was uneventful. When they had eaten, the children's nanny shooed everyone except for James and Nereem off to bed. Nereem and her mother went to watch a holovid in the lounge which ruled out the lounge for pretty much everyone else.

"I will not be able to spend the evening with you," Eeth told Raven. "I have to make a lengthy comm call to the Senate. Lakhri will have to take care of navigation for a while as we are about to cross an asteroid belt."

"About what?" Raven enquired. Eeth always seemed to be working on something so it wasn't exactly a shock, but she was still curious.

"The former king has filed a complaint and the Senate needs to conduct a hearing before proceeding with Larivan's membership bid," said Eeth. "They prefer to get this over with fast, ideally before the former royals arrive on Coruscant and can cause more of a stir. They want to hear my testimony before voting on the matter."

Raven nodded; it was fair enough. It was also welcome news as it wasn't the freakin' Escolar crisis or some other potentially deadly issue. "Can I help Lakhri?" she asked, looking from one to the other. It was preferable to any sort of task Eeth was likely to set her, after all.

Lakhri shrugged. "You can't really help, as such, but you're welcome to watch and learn," he replied. "I'm sorry, but asteroid belts require a lot of experience. I wasn't able to navigate them before I was eighteen or so."

Raven rolled her eyes at his 'not until I was eighteen' comment.

"Why is it that everything worth doing can't be done until you're old?" she said.

Lakhri snorted at her "old" statement, and even Eeth smirked slightly. They did not comment, though.

Resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to be allowed in the cockpit any other way, Raven nodded her consent "Alright, I'll watch."

Thus, Lakhri took her to the cockpit where he pulled the ship out of hyperspace and deactivated the autopilot. After that, he had little time for talking and explanations, as steering the ship through the onslaught of asteroids required all his presence of mind.

After being 'shushed' for the second time, the padawan slumped forcefully back into the co-pilot's chair and, closing her eyes, tried to pretend she was flying the ship herself.

"Wait a moment," she said, upon stretching out her senses, and sprang up to peer out the window; it was pitch black outside, and she could see nothing, but … "There's something, somewhere," she said more to herself than Lakhri. Squinting hard, Raven pressed her face right up against the glass in the hopes of catching a glimpse of whatever it was. It was at that exact moment a Mynock sucked onto the outside glass, scaring the crap clean out of Raven. She sucked in a breath and stumbled backwards, her hand immediately on her saber for all the good it would do. "What the Force is that thing?" she asked Lakhri, sounding slightly alarmed and breathing heavily.

"Sith," Lakhri swore. "That was a Mynock, and our deflector shields are no use against such vermin. They simply suck up the energy and try again elsewhere. What's worse, they always appear in flocks. We need to shake them off before getting back into hyperspace."

Raven didn't hesitate. She dived into the co-pilot's chair and strapped in.

Lakhri started to accelerate, swerving around wildly and pulling the ship into loops and figure eights, often narrowly missing an asteroid. His brows were creased in concentration. The occasional Mynock was shown by the cameras to attach itself to the shield. Raven was in padawan heaven here, and her expression said as much! Lakhri, however, did not notice; too focussed was he on his task. Finally, the flock fell behind.

"Whew," said Lakhri. "I could have used helium grenades, but that's messy and next to impossible when the ship is not on a straight course anyway. Well, I think I got rid of them."

"Lakhri, you are freakin' awesome… _THAT_ was freakin' awesome!" Raven exclaimed, unstrapping herself from the co-pilot's chair. "I wonder how many people puked, I bet Nereem puked. Even more curiously, though, is why Eeth is not up here demanding to know what's going on? Do they even feel the movements back there?" she asked, not aware that she was running on adrenaline and shooting questions at a million miles an hour.

"They do, and I expect Eeth would have alerted them," Lakhri replied. "He has certainly seen or sensed the mynocks. He also knows that I'm perfectly capable of shaking them off without his help, so his job would have been to look after the passengers and ensure their safety. This is how Jedi teams work."

"Yeah, that's how Jedi teams work when your counterparts actually deem you capable of piloting vehicles, let alone evading Mynocks," Raven pointed out.

Lakhri chuckled. "Hey, what happened to your pride in having been chosen as a padawan?" he asked good-naturedly. "It hasn't been all that long, you know. You will need to practice in the simulator for a long time before actually being allowed this kind of piloting, and that's not just because you have Eeth for a master. I wouldn't complain too much if I were you. Not many padawans your age would have been allowed to take part in the kind of mission you're currently completing. That's one good thing about Eeth; he trusts you to grow with your responsibilities and will try to avoid the kindergarten type of pseudo mission as much as possible."

"I guess. I just wish I was more useful," Raven replied.

Lakhri smiled. "Oh, you are," he said peacefully. "Don't worry about it."

The asteroid belt was thinning now, which made navigation easier, but it would take another hour or so before they could launch the ship back into hyperspace.

Raven sat and watched him for another half an hour or so before it became boring. Watching Lakhri concentrate and not being allowed to ask any questions was not exactly exciting. Quietly unbuckling her restraints, Raven exited the cockpit without comment and decided to use the free time to hang out with James; she had developed a bit of a crush on the teen during this trip, and she could tell that he liked her also. This was the first 'boy' Raven had really taken a fancy to. Sure, she had had a crush on her teacher once, but that had been more a fascination with who he was, not what he was. Anyway, a little harmless flirting never killed anyone, not that the padawan was willing to share this with Eeth or Lakhri. How embarrassing!


	10. Chapter 10

It was late evening on their second last day of space travel. Lakhri was busy guiding them through the rest of the asteroid belt, Eeth was giving his testimony to the Council regarding the royals, which left Raven with some rare free time to herself. She had gone to find James, only to be told by the nanny that he had gone to bed. This was weird as it was only half past eight. Something else she found strange was that her sense of him through the Force was coming from the cargo bays below, not the royals' quarters where his room was. Intrigued, but equally not wanting to draw attention to whatever it was that James wanted to hide, Raven thanked the woman and set out to find him.

"Don't get a fright," Raven announced quietly upon entering the small cargo storage room that was one of six on this side of the ship.

"OH! Fuck it and shit!" James exclaimed, jumping in spite of her warning and fumbling the death stick and lighter.

"Why are you here? I-I mean, I wasn't expecting anyone else to come down here," he said, rushing to pick up the smoke before she saw it.

"Please, I'm not stupid. Who do you think took those off you the night we slept in the cave?" Raven said wryly while sitting cross-legged on the floor, her back resting against the wall. She looked rather inconspicuous amongst the packing crates and other stored items in the dimly lit room and therefore would not draw attention from anyone who decided to wander past. Not that this was likely.

James regarded her for a moment. He was pretty sure he could trust her, but then, she was a Jedi. Deciding to play it cool, he met her with his most charming smile. "Sorry, babe, I should have known that you'd be far too cool to rat me out."

The padawan waved him off, yawned and stretched out a little. "I know what it's like to have restrictions on things you want to do. That said, you should probably know that if Eeth or Lakhri catch you with that stuff, crown prince or not, they will kick your ass into next week."

James snorted, kicked a crate away and sat on the floor opposite her. "Knight Lakhri, kick my ass? Now that I'd like to see. He'd have to get a step ladder to pull that shit on me," he said incredulously and started messing around with the lighter.

"Take it from me, you don't want to piss off Lakhri," she warned. "But yeah, if I had to choose one of them to bust me for smoking drugs, I would want it to be Lakhri… And I'd want my master to be on Yavin 4, in a cave, fifty miles underground," she added, drawing a laugh from James.

"He's that scary, heh?"

"Yes, he is," Raven confirmed, her tone and expression deadpan. "I'm also pretty sure something like that would fall into the 'just bad' category, and he really, _really_ doesn't like that kind of behaviour."

James quirked a brow at this and tapped the death stick nervously on his boot for a moment before meeting her with a quizzical expression. "I see. So, what brings you to the cargo hold, anyway? Belinda said you were helping Lakhri," he asked curiously, lighting the death stick. The effects of being around death stick smoke weren't overly drastic; Nereem was around him often enough and didn't get high. As long as he kept blowing the smoke out the extraction fan, Raven shouldn't get more than a mild buzz.

"Well, I'm not sneaking away to smoke, that's for sure. I got bored. Lakhri won't let me ask questions or talk, and Eeth is busy on a call so I thought I'd see if you wanted to play for an hour." Raven explained how she had asked the nanny where he was and how that had led her to seek him out.

"Heh. I'm glad our nanny isn't a Jedi."

"Yeah, that would seriously mess up just about any plans of sneaking away like this undetected," agreed Raven.

"Speaking of sneaking away undetected: will you get in trouble for being down here?" James asked. Clearly, the prince was unaccustomed to sitting on the floor, as he was struggling to get comfortable.

Raven shrugged. "I don't think so. Lakhri was too busy avoiding asteroids to give me any instructions, and Eeth will be buried in work for hours, so I say I get to do what I want for a change." And Raven meant that; it was nice to relax without a care for the rules or worry over breaking them for a change.

James chuckled, smoke coming out of his nose and mouth as he did so. He liked this girl; she was bold and for some reason, the fact that she did not appear utterly besotted by his presence — as was his experience when meeting girls in general — intrigued him. "I don't know much about the Jedi order. Are both of them your master?"

Raven swished her hand in front of her face to shoo away the smog, gesturing that he do a better job at aiming it at the extraction fan. "No, the code forbids any master from taking on more than one apprentice at a time. Lakhri is Eeth's former padawan, and although he's not my master, per se, he does care for me sometimes when Eeth is away and trains me in Force manipulation. It's not all that different from what you would experience; you have tutors and learn from many places, but your father's word is final."

This drew a bark of laughter from James. "My father's word doesn't mean that much to me," he said frankly, taking another drag. "He's never been around much, hell, we don't even know each other. You wouldn't know what that's like, having Eeth around all the time," he continued, blowing the lungful of smoke into the fan. Despite this, the smog was beginning to build up around them.

"Actually, I can kinda sympathise with you there. Eeth is a member of the Jedi Council. I am often left to my own devices. The difference is that I'm not left idle or without direction; I've always got orders or work to do."

"Don't you ever get sick of that?" James asked honestly, closing his eyes to enhance the buzz.

Raven had to really think about this. Did she? "No, not really. I mean, sometimes I get frustrated because I want more freedom or time to be with my friends. Then there is the fact that Eeth is renowned for being the strictest Jedi master in the Temple. That can seriously suck at times!"

"Life sucks in general. That's why I smoke these. Sorry, I'm not usually so rude, you want?" He offered her the death stick and blew a heavy cloud of smoke her direction. James was too high to care much now.

Raven coughed and fanned the smog away from her face. "No, thanks. Besides, I don't think I need to draw on that to feel it, I can feel it already. Luckily for me, both Eeth and Lakhri are busy all night as I'd have a hard time explaining the smell in my clothing, not to mention the pleasant buzz in my head. Eeth would go spare if he sensed that during our evening meditation."

"Well then, young Jedi, what do you have to lose? All supervisors are busy doing supervisory duties, so I say you get to live a little. It will probably be the only chance you'll ever get to try one of these bad boys."

Raven shook her head. Even though the sensation would be long gone by morning, actually smoking death sticks would land her in a world of trouble if Eeth ever found out, and he always managed to find out somehow.

James frowned. He really wanted to share his fun with Raven. It was then that he had an idea. "You don't have to smoke it if it freaks you out. This is what's called a gun-shot, but don't worry, I'm not gonna give you a disease or anything. Just close your eyes, open your mouth a little and go with it." James drew a lungful of smoke, leaned in close and placed his lips inches from hers as if about to gently kiss her.

Somewhere in Raven's mind (under all the fog), alarm bells were running amok, yet the padawan found herself becoming lost in his eyes, and once their lips touched, her stomach filled with butterflies. The smoke tasted thick, dank and stale, and apparently her body agreed as it immediately rejected the lungful in a fit of coughing.

"Ah, you wasted that one," James chided, patting her back gently as she hacked up the last of it. "You have to hold it in for a few seconds before letting it out, like this." James demonstrated and scooted back a little to watch her do the same, but Raven was too busy coughing to watch him.

When Raven finally stopped coughing, James handed her the smoke, but again she rejected it. "I think I've had enough."

James was disappointed yet he wasn't about to force the girl. Thus, he butted out the end of his smoke and stuffed it into his pocket. He was high now, and that had been his goal, after all. They sat in silence for several minutes, both of them enjoying the buzz.

"How can you stand being told what to do all the time? Don't you feel like some sort of robot with all the 'yes, master' and 'no, master'?" James asked. He had been thinking about what his life might have been like if he had parents who actually held him accountable, who cared, and he'd gotten to thinking about the pros and cons of both.

"Sometimes," Raven choked out, her voice still a little raspy from all the coughing she'd done. "Eeth can be pretty unforgiving. Just ask your sister." This comment had them both laughing, but Raven sobered as she thought about what really bugged her most. "What pisses me off is that I am too young to do anything worth doing, and too old to get away with complaining about it."

"Oh, tell me about it. Some of the nursemaids and nannies we've had can be a right pain in the ass! Although you still look too young to find any serious trouble. Wait another few years until you're my age, and then you get to say you know the feeling."

"A few years?!" The incredulous look Raven shot him did not go unnoticed. James had often wondered about her age, yet never had the courage to ask lest he be disappointed. If she were as young as she looked, there was no chance at any spontaneous hookups with her, after all.

"I'm probably old and wise compared to you young whippersnapper," he said with a teasing chuckle. "Incidentally, how old are you?" He hadn't planned on asking this, but he was feeling rather amorous now, and if she consented, who would ever know?

"Fourteen," Raven lied smoothly. It was the absolute oldest she could possibly get away with without it being an obvious lie.

James snorted, not believing her for a second. Not that he cared; fourteen was old enough to give consent and that was all he needed to hear from her.

Hearing his disbelief, Raven felt the need to explain. "I'm from the planet of Chine. Our people are known for a youthful appearance, even into our adult years."

"Chine? Never heard of it. If all people from there are as pretty as you, though, I will have to move there."

This made Raven blush, so much so that she did not mind when he moved a bit closer to her side.

"Larivan is pretty boring. And now that we are no longer royalty, I will probably become a nobody," James said, attempting to draw a little sympathy from her.

"You are not a nobody," Raven scoffed, having little patience for self-pity even if it was a feeling she indulged herself from time to time. "You are James Paul Reese, born June 12 at 0300 to parents King Philipp Paul Reese and Queen Wanda Joy Reese. You enjoy electrical engineering and would probably be successful at it if you just studied. You are also the oldest of six children and used to be first in line to inherit the throne of Larivan, and according to most of the local school girls on your planet, 'too cute for words'."

"Woah, you know a lot about me, and I know so little about you. That's hardly fair," James said.

Raven just shrugged. "I had to read the mission brief." At which point they both burst out laughing again, although she noticed that James was looking at her strangely. He had also moved close enough that his hand was touching her thigh and she had not even noticed.

"Well, do you agree with the girls on Larivan?" James hedged.

"Maybe," Raven replied coyly. "But it hardly matters what I think."

"Oh? I think it matters a lot. Maybe you should let me get to know you a bit better. It's only fair, right?" he pressed, gently stroking his thumb across her cheek.

The padawan could not help but shiver at his touch; her skin felt electric and thanks to the drugs, she was not thinking clearly at all.

"Just relax. I know you like my touch, and I know you like my lips close to yours, I can tell," he said smoothly and gently pulled her close to him.

"I– umm, James, I'm not sure if…" He cut her off with a kiss. It was not intrusive, vulgar or crude, but a soft touching of lips that sent the butterflies to new heights in Raven's stomach. It felt great, and she wanted more, so when he laid her back in his arm and placed a hand into her tunic, she did not feel inclined to stop him.

The first thing James noticed was the lack of a bra, or more importantly to him, the lack of anything at all warranting one, which might have been a red flag for the teen had he not been so eager to sample her.

A few minutes of making out found the padawan lying with her head resting on their discarded tops, wearing only her trousers, while James straddled her hips and grinned mischievously down at her. She ran exploratory fingers over his chest and back, enjoying the quiet purring sound this drew from James, although she could not help but notice he did not look or feel anything like the other males she had seen at the temple; he was soft, skinny and had little or no muscle tone.

"What are you smirking at little Jedi?" he teased, gently grasping her hands and pinning them over her head with one hand, leaving his other free to return the favour.

At which moment Lakhri stepped into the cargo hold, his eyes widening in shock.

* * *

Lakhri had steered the ship out of the asteroid belt and plotted a course to Coruscant. When they were safely back in hyperspace and the ship was running on autopilot, he got up and went to look for Raven. He was not sure whether she had been offended by his lack of talkativeness, and he thought he'd rather make sure.

She proved hard to find, though. When he had looked everywhere on the upper decks, without success, he started to feel concerned. Luckily, 5JPL was able to tap into a service droid who had registered Raven's presence on the lower deck in the storage area.

When Lakhri approached the cargo holds, he heard voices from one of the rooms, and he noticed something else: an unmistakable smell.

James was far too involved and close to 'scoring' to notice when Lakhri entered. He did notice Raven tense, but this did prove far too little too late.

His steps quickening, Lakhri entered the room and rounded the stack of crates. His mouth fell open at the sight that met his eyes.

"Sith," he said, completely aghast. Then reason kicked in, along with a fierce sense of protectiveness for his padawan sibling.

Raven barely had time to register what was happening before Lakhri had hold of James. He pulled him off her effortlessly and then he did something Raven had not seen him do before; he slapped him across the face. Hard! "How dare you," he said furiously, ignoring the string of expletives the prince was letting fly; his concern was with Raven, not James.

By this point Raven was wide-eyed and doing her best to scramble to her feet. Lakhri was happy to help her in his own way: he grabbed her by the ear, pulling her to her feet.

"Ow! Lakhri, no, wait! My ear!" Raven whimpered, flailing around to regain her balance, while being unceremoniously hauled out the door.

Lakhri ignored her protests, propelled her towards the stairs, upwards and into his room where he rummaged around in his bag, produced a hypospray and pressed it against the base of her neck. If this was the first time she had tried death sticks and if she had not inhaled too much, this would not only counteract the effect, but also prevent addiction.

The hypospray didn't hurt her, not really, yet Raven was so horrified at what Lakhri had witnessed, at what had happened, not to mention being dragged through the ship half-naked by an ear, that she couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears.

Lakhri snorted. He got up and threw Raven a fresh tunic from his wardrobe. Turning his back towards her, he growled: "Now get dressed, for the Force's sake. Of all the brainless, idiotic stunts… I cannot fathom what got into you."

Wordlessly, the padawan pulled on his tunic. It wasn't going to fit right, but that was honestly the last thing Raven cared about right now. She could not bring herself to look at him. Where the Force could she start? How could she begin to explain all of this? Now that her head was starting to clear, the realisation of what had almost gone down was truly dawning. "I don't know– I don't know what to say!" she sniffled, honestly at a loss for words.

"Why don't you start by telling me the complete story," Lakhri said, turning back to face her. He sounded and looked quite livid. "Like how you came to lie on the floor of a lower-deck storage room half-naked, intoxicated by death stick smoke, with a boy straddling you as if he was about to… you know."

Okay, so Lakhri was pissed off, possibly more pissed off than Raven had ever seen him before, and yeah, she couldn't really blame him for that. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on whose perspective was being considered here, the hypospray had all but done its job, although with the clarity came an overwhelming sense of shame.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Raven had to begin with that because it was true! "I was bored, and I thought it would be a good time to seek out James as Nereem and her mother were elsewhere, and that would give us some peace to play." Raven went on to explain how she had sought him out in all his usual haunts with no luck, and what the nanny had told her when she went asking after him. "He wasn't in his room, though. I could sense him in the cargo bay so I went to see what he was hiding. I guess you kinda figured out what he had to hide?"

Lakhri just raised a sardonic eyebrow at her.

"I didn't stop him from smoking it because firstly, I didn't want him to think I had a stick up my ass, and secondly, he was blowing the smoke out the vent, and I didn't think there was any danger of me being affected if I didn't actually smoke any of it," she hastened to explain. "I was wrong about that. I did start to feel it, just a little bit. I think it was because he was blowing it my way. I started to feel floaty, and he said that since I was already kinda high, I had nothing to lose by trying it for real. I refused to smoke it, but he blew the smoke in my mouth. It wasn't nice, but then, all my skin started to feel like it was crawling and his touch was—" Raven took a sharp breath as the memory of what happened next replayed in her mind. "A-And then you came in," she concluded quickly, her gaze locked on the floor.

"And not a moment too soon, it appears," Lakhri said with awful sarcasm. "I just hope I gave you the hypospray fast enough to prevent addiction. Was that your first death stick experience?"

Now it was Raven's turn to raise a brow. Did he think she smoked them by the pack after saber practice each day or what? "Of course it's my first experience," she defended, scrubbing at her eyes and trying to shake off the last of the effects.

"How should I know?" Lakhri snapped. "I need to know whether the hypospray has prevented an addiction or not, and even one or two previous death sticks might have been too much. Eeth is going to tear the skin off you, and I can't blame him."

Raven flinched, recoiling slightly. He was right, Eeth was going to have a conniption over this. It was then that the realisation dawned on her: she was going to have to explain all of this to Eeth, all of it! The padawan looked stricken for a moment, and then she started crying again. How could she possibly have a conversation about James with Eeth!? It had been one thing to tell Lakhri, but Eeth? She just couldn't.

"Lakhri, please I am begging you not to tell Eeth about this. Not yet! Please, give me some time. I swear to all that is sacred, I will never do anything so stupid again! I'll take any punishment you want, anything, just please don't tell him about this," she pleaded, tears beginning to track down her face.

"You mean to say that you expect me to keep THIS from him?" Lakhri asked, genuinely shocked. "I mean, we're not talking about, I dunno, running in the corridor or missing your curfew by two minutes! He's your master, he has a right to know!"

"I know and you're right. But, Lakhri, please, you don't understand. It's not that I don't expect to be in trouble for this and I'm not even trying to avoid punishment." She turned to face him and took hold of his hand, meeting him with an utterly piteous expression. "It's James. I can't tell Eeth that I let a boy kiss me, and that I actually wanted him to, and … that we did more than kiss. He already told me that I am too young for kissing, I can't imagine what he would make of this." She paused for a long moment unsure how else to explain. "I really thought James liked me because we had so much fun together, I trusted him," Raven admitted, her eyes glassing up again at her own stupidity. "It's bad enough that you know, let alone having to explain to Eeth. He won't understand about feelings."

"Feelings?" Lakhri asked incredulously. "What does this have to do with feelings? You just got high on one of the most addictive drugs in the galaxy, and you are embarrassed about your feelings?"

"Yes, I've never kissed a boy before and," said Raven, "I like James. I wanted him to kiss me long before this. I'm so sorry, Lakhri, I shouldn't have done it, it was stupid, all of it! I actually thought he liked me because of me, and not because he wanted to have sex with me; I don't want to have sex yet!" Finally the shame of having to admit all this to Lakhri won over and she burst into tears. Fighting the urge to throw up, Raven curled up in a ball on Lakhri's bed and sobbed heart-brokenly into his pillow.

Lakhri was a soft-hearted person, and his fury evaporated fast at seeing Raven's distress. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put a hand on her back. "So now you know why smoking death sticks is a bad idea, huh?" he asked gently.

Raven had known it was a bad idea, she simply hadn't thought it through. She was crying too hard to reply, but she did nod her head. Raven felt horribly guilty, used and utterly humiliated over what had happened, but she was also grateful that Lakhri had come in when he did as it could have been so much worse. Not that Raven could imagine much worse than this! No, at the moment this felt like the worst thing that had ever happened and she just wanted to die.

Lakhri was feeling more helpless by the moment. It was clear that Raven was miserable about what she had done. It was also clear that Eeth would have no sympathy with her whatsoever. Lakhri could understand why Raven would feel mortified at the idea of explaining this to her master. He could not imagine that Eeth had actually ever been in love. He knew about his master's orphaned childhood in the slums of Nar Shaddaa that had instilled in him a deep mistrust of others, something that he had had a hard enough time overcoming wit his own padawans. Admit to a desire of kissing someone when faced with Eeth as a master? Lakhri flinched in compassion at the thought.

"Alright, I won't tell," he suddenly heard himself say and flinched a second time. Where had that come from? How could he even think about betraying Eeth's trust like this? On the other hand, how could he ask Raven to reveal this willingly to her master? Besides, the more kind-hearted part of him said that she was already repentant and had promised never to do this again, so what harm would be done? Provided that Eeth did not learn of this, of course!

"Take a shower and get dressed into fresh clothes," he instructed. "Come on, hurry up. It's nearly your bedtime. If Eeth catches you smelling of death sticks, he will immediately know what happened." He flinched again at his own words, his guilty conscience already nagging at him; but he could not very well back out now, could he?

Raven did her best to pull herself together because Lakhri was right, if Eeth smelt smoke on her, all of this would be for naught. Still, it wasn't easy, and despite doing her best, she was forced to run to her refresher lest someone see her crying. She spent twice as long as usual showering, making sure that she washed her hair (three times), brushed her teeth (twice) and her smoke-smelling clothing was thrown down the laundry shoot. Despite all this, no matter how much cold water she splashed on her face, it was impossible to hide her red-rimmed eyes or to stop her breaths from randomly catching in her chest. Her room was going to be her only solace at the moment; seeing Eeth was out of the question while she was in this state, and she could only hope that he didn't come to check on her before she was sleeping for real.

Raven paused in the hallway on the way back to her room, watching the top of the staircase that led down to the cargo bay for a moment and wondering if James was okay. What had happened to him? Did his parents find out? How did he hide it from them all the time anyway? Her thoughts were interrupted, though, when 5JPL came tottering into the end of the hallway. Raven vanished into her room before he got a good look at her; the last thing she needed was 5JPL asking questions.

A few minutes later, Lakhri came knocking on her door. He was feeling rather rotten about all this; he was completely aware that keeping this from Eeth was wrong. But how could he go back on the promise he had given Raven?

Raven's head popped up at sensing Lakhri enter her bedroom, and the relief showed clearly on her face. Raven had been sweating bullets that Eeth might pop in to check on her, after all.

As Lakhri saw her tear-splotched face and her red-rimmed eyes, his heart softened again.

"Eeth asked me to tuck you in since the Senate hearing is dragging on longer than anticipated," he said. "The former king probably bribed some delegates. I have to admit this is convenient, but… Raven, this is all wrong. I'm buying you a bit of time here, but will you own up eventually?"

"I know, and I will tell Eeth, I swear it. I just need some time to deal with this myself. I haven't had feelings for anyone like that before." She looked up at him for the first time since he had entered and put her hand on his to convey just how sincere she was about this. "I'm truly sorry, Lakhri; sorry that I disappointed you, that I put you in this situation, that I scared you. Will you ever forgive me?" she asked, her eyes shining with yet more tears at the thought of having ruined their friendship over this.

Lakhri sighed and offered her a hug. "Yes, of course I will," he said. "You got carried away. It was an incredibly stupid thing to do, however. Keep away from the prince by all means until we have arrived. Promise you will run away screaming if anyone as much as shows you a death stick in the future?"

"I will, I give you my word I will," Raven sniffled into his shoulder.

"Alright," said Lakhri wearily. "Then go to sleep."

Sleep was not going to come easily, yet Raven felt too guilty to ask him to help her. Thus, the padawan reluctantly withdrew from his embrace and tried to get comfortable while he was still sitting on the edge of her bed. She didn't want him to leave, but again, there was no way Raven was going to ask him to stay; she had asked more than enough from him today, after all.

Lakhri took pity on her. He rested his hand on her shoulder and sent a light sleep compulsion her way. After all, the better rested she was, the less likely Eeth would be to catch on to them…


	11. Chapter 11

Eeth was already up and busy writing memos when Raven woke up on the final day of their journey. He greeted her briefly and asked her to have breakfast with Lakhri, for he needed to talk to the Council. After breakfast, Lakhri had a kata practice session with Raven, watched by an awestruck Belinda. James was nowhere to be seen. Lakhri thought that his irate father, to whom he had talked about James' death stick habit the night before, had probably called him to task for his behaviour.

Indeed, during lunch, James was red-eyed and sullen; he chose a seat as far away from Raven as possible, and he did not appear to particularly enjoy sitting. He wasn't in a talking mood either, and his monosyllabic answers to Raven's typical banter said as much. Apparently, his father was on some sort of delusional power trip! Probably because of the example Eeth had made of Nereem, and most definitely due to the fact that he had lost his status as king of Larivan. Yeah, well, he wasn't going to put up with this shit for long – at least this was how James felt after the belting he had received last night. Yes, he absolutely felt bad about having drawn Raven into it, but he had actually really liked her, as much as it must look the opposite. The death sticks had just made him crazy, and it was because of this that his parents had threatened him with a life spent serving as manual labour if he ever dared touch her, or death sticks, again.

Raven knew none of this, however. To Raven, it felt like he had used her, and that thought was making it hard for her to keep up the cheerful act.

While they ate, Eeth mostly talked to Raven and Lakhri, inquiring about their workout and summarising the results of the Senate hearing – which had ended in a rejection of the king's complaint – to them. He noticed James' predicament but had no idea what had caused it, nor did he think it was his responsibility.

After lunch, he instructed Raven to pack her things and join Lakhri in the cockpit. They were scheduled to arrive mid-afternoon.

Unsurprisingly, the padawan was eager to leave the table this afternoon.

Raven took extra time packing. Why? Because absorbing herself in duties was a great way to avoid running into James, and the awkwardness that such an encounter was bound to cause. She took her time folding and refolding stuff with such unusual diligence that had Eeth been around, it would be his turn to ask if she needed to lie down. The cockpit was another solace, although she did feel terrible about asking Lakhri to hide the mess with James from Eeth. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, per se, but nor did Raven really know what to say. Her thoughts were all over the place.

Lakhri was not too talkative either. He could not fathom what had gotten into him to keep this from Eeth. And there was no way to go back on this now. If he revoked his decision, not only would Raven feel betrayed, but Eeth would want to know exactly why he had not told him right away.

To lighten up the mood, he finally offered, "I'll take the ship out of hyperspace in a moment. Would you like to try navigating for the first part of our descent?" She could not do much harm at this stage: although the starship routes around Coruscant were always busy, the traffic was not really dense until they approached the deeper layers of the atmosphere.

"Would I like to try navigating? Are you serious?" Raven asked, but it was rhetorical, and she almost fell over her chair getting out of it.

She followed his instructions to the letter, asked questions and tried to learn as much as possible in the short time Lakhri let her have the pilot's seat. Raven was in padawan bliss right now, the experience throwing all thoughts of the James debacle to the wayside. Yep, this was right up there with the moment Eeth had told her she could construct her lightsaber.

"Alright, let me take over," Lakhri finally said as the traffic thickened. They switched seats and he focused on navigation now, which meant that he had no time to talk to Raven.

Again, this was a comfortable silence, yet the underlying reason for it was not. Raven couldn't do this to him, and she was about to tell him that she planned to confess to Eeth tonight when Eeth entered the cockpit behind them. She had been so wrapped up in what to say that his approach had gone completely undetected, and Raven actually jumped about half a foot in the air with fright when he placed a hand on the seat and leant over to look at the instruments.

"Relax, padawan," Eeth said in quiet amusement. "I assume you have not been very mindful of your surroundings right now, but that is understandable. Descending onto Coruscant is quite a sight. We will land at the Senate's spaceport where a delegation will pick up the royals. A shuttle will take us to the Temple from there."

"Uh! Yes, I mean sorry, master," replied Raven, suddenly all sixes and sevens! She had to do a better job at this or the time Lakhri was buying her by keeping this to himself would be for nought. Granted, she did not have a lot of time as the moment Eeth meditated with her, he would sense something was off and question her.

Pulling herself together, the padawan watched from the co-pilot's seat as Lakhri landed their ship, and then she followed him out to where Eeth and the ex-royals stood. Raven noticed that James was keeping his gaze down, despite the fact that she was trying to make eye contact. Did he hate her now? Was their friendship unsalvageable because of this mess? Would it be left unfinished? Raven kept her eye on him as he filed down the ramp, her heart dropping as he walked by without so much as a glance. That was until he got to the door and paused just long enough to turn and wink. It was enough for the padawan to get the sense that he did not hate her, that despite what had gone on between them, he was okay. That was the last time she would see him, but at that moment, Raven was able to make peace with that part of her guilt.

After a few quick words to Eeth, the family disappeared into another speeder, and the Jedi were finally free of their royal baggage.

Raven had never before been so happy to see their quarters, although when she entered her room, it was sans the typical exuberance. Instead, she felt a heaviness. So much had happened that it was hard for her to manage it by herself. Well, she would deal with that in her free time this afternoon. After that, she would have to have this conversation with Eeth. Raven cringed.

Eeth left Raven to do her unpacking and went to organise his own things. After twenty minutes, he knocked at her door.

"Padawan, I have just received notice that our post-mission checkup will take place half an hour from now," he told her. "We need to leave in fifteen minutes. Lakhri is going to join us."

"Alright," replied Raven, utterly unenthused. Post-mission checkups were not exactly how she would choose to spend her time right now, and her expression said as much as she exited her bedroom, ready to leave.

Eeth ignored her lack of enthusiasm completely. Post-mission checkups were simply a necessity and whether his padawan enjoyed them or not, they needed to get theirs over with.

As was typical for Eeth, they entered the healers' wing right on time. While Eeth was inquiring about the room number, Lakhri hurried up behind them.

"We are with Healer Nezriel, room 104," Eeth informed him.

"Alright," said Lakhri. "Well, I suppose this isn't going to take long. I don't feel contagious." He grinned at the look on Eeth's face.

"Master, it was a joke," he said patiently. "I know that contagious diseases don't work like that. Come on, Raven."

He clapped her on the shoulder. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder whether the healers routinely tested for drug exposure during such exams. He did not think they would, not unless there was a specific reason for them to do so; but then, he had never been exposed to drugs, so he would not know. He pushed the thought aside. There was no point in worrying about it now.

Nezriel was a young Twi'lek with light blue skin. He smiled and beckoned them inside.

"I will have Master Koth first," he said. "Sit down here, please."

Lakhri motioned for Raven to take a seat on a bench next to him while they waited for Nezriel to give Eeth his check-up.

Raven happened to share Lakhri's feelings on this; it wouldn't take long, at least it hadn't the last time. She watched what the healer was doing with great interest because despite hating to be on the patient's side of this exchange, she did rather enjoy anatomy and medicine.

After Nezriel had pronounced both Eeth and Lakhri to be fine, he finally asked Raven to sit on the exam table. He ran a scanner up and down her and took a quick blood sample.

"Hmm," he said, studying the results. "No infection either. You seem to be in order. You have been under the effect of narcotics though, haven't you? Not much, but not too long ago either? I assume it was your master who gave you the antidote? Well, it has been effective, luckily. There will be no lasting effects and no addiction. Try to avoid exposure in the future by all means, though."

"Wait a moment," Eeth said sharply. "Are you sure about this?"

Raven's insides froze solid, her mouth went dry, and she almost gagged.

Lakhri gave Raven a despairing look. Apparently, the fat was in the fire now. "Uhh," he ventured. "Uh, Eeth, you see…"

Eeth turned on him slowly, his eyes shooting daggers.

"And what would you happen to know about this, young man?" he asked in a dangerously low voice. Lakhri paled and gulped, looking at Raven helplessly.

When Eeth turned on Lakhri, Raven was honestly stricken. She had never heard Eeth use that tone of voice with Lakhri before, nor had she seen the look of utter horror on Lakhri's face, not even when he caught her sneaking on the mission shuttle trying to rescue Eeth from Antar III. Thankfully, the look of helplessness on Lakhri's face spurred her into action; this wasn't on him it was on her.

"Master, wait…" It came out choked but Raven coughed in an effort to clear her throat. "This isn't Lakhris fault, it's mine. I asked him not to tell you because— " The padawan swallowed, looking horrified, "because there are some things about what happened that I need to talk to you about, uh, not here."

Eeth's face turned so thunderous that even Healer Nezriel took an involuntary step backwards and Lakhri was sorely tempted to turn and run. He barely resisted that temptation, but he was white and shaking and somehow unable to speak, which was not a common occurrence at all.

"I think we had better take this discussion to our quarters," Eeth said in a voice of deadly calm. "Unless you are not finished yet, Healer Nezriel?"

"No, no, it's fine," the healer said quickly. "Your padawan is no worse for wear, thanks to the antidote that… someone… must have given her."

"Err, that would have been me," Lakhri managed to bring out.

"That," said Eeth icily, "was a sensible thing to do. Informing me of this immediately would have been an infinitely more sensible thing to do. Let us go. Thank you, Healer Nezriel. May the Force be with you."

With this, he swept out of the room, clearly expecting for the two others to follow him.

Lakhri shot Raven a grimace of comical despair as he turned to go after Eeth, but the despair part of it was decidedly dominant.

Raven's eyes grew wider, if such a thing were possible and, like Lakhri, she followed Eeth.

"Lakhri, I'm really sorry about this. I didn't know that they'd screen for that, I swear it," she whispered as they followed an extremely pissed-off Jedi master towards their quarters.

"Yeah, well, neither did I," Lakhri murmured. "Listen, don't blame yourself for my stupidity. It's always a mistake to do things against better judgment. You didn't want to face Eeth, that's perfectly understandable. I simply shouldn't have agreed to this."

They practically had to run after Eeth who strode through the Temple corridors angrily, looking so furious that people jumped out of his way left, right and centre. He palmed open the door to their quarters and pointed inside. "In," he ordered curtly. When Raven and Lakhri had hurried inside, he closed the door and turned to face them, his arms folded across his chest and his dark eyes gleaming wrathfully.

"I would like an explanation," he said in a voice of deceptive calm.

Glancing at Lakhri, Raven swallowed but could not figure out how to start. Her voice had run out the door with her stomach the moment Eeth had turned to face them. "I, I— I well, you see. James and I, we might have had feelings for each other, and that led to, uh. I didn't smoke anything, but I inhaled some of it." Raven cringed because that was the worst explanation, honestly the WORST! That she had ever given… To anything. EVER!

Lakhri took a deep breath and pulled himself together.

"Raven inhaled Prince James' death stick smoke," he said. "She had not planned it; he more or less pulled her into this. She did not withdraw immediately because she, well, had developed a liking for him. The death stick somewhat, umm, aroused their sexual desire, and it was lucky that I found her in time to intervene. I gave her the antidote, and she was so distressed and ashamed and embarrassed that I reluctantly agreed not to tell you immediately because she was kind of mortified to have to tell you about her feelings about James and all this and wanted time to prepare. And you needn't tell me it was wrong; I made the decision in the spur of the moment and have felt bad about it ever since. Raven promised me she'd come clean. But I know that's no excuse. I'm terribly sorry, master. Please… don't be too harsh on Raven. Can you blame her for being afraid of you when you are as mad as you are now?"

Eeth was silent for a long moment. Then he turned towards Raven.

"Do you have anything to add?" he asked brusquely.

Did she have anything to add? Yes, but how well it came out was anyone's guess.

"I know you're disappointed and really mad, and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry that I let this happen, really I am," she said, and for the first time since he had pinned them, she managed to pull her gaze from the floor and looked up.

"This mess is my fault. If Lakhri hadn't come in when he did, and if he hadn't given me the hypospray, it would have been bad. I don't have any excuse for what I did, it was the stupidest thing I've ever done, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but–" She shot him a pleading expression. "I - it, I mean … I just needed a bit of time to work it out myself."

"Which I shouldn't have given you," Lakhri said dejectedly. "I knew you needed to know about this, master. Any master would need to know. I'm sorry."

Eeth pinned him with an irate look. "Sorry is all good and well, but you still betrayed my trust here," he said coolly. "Go back to your quarters. We will discuss this later. I need to talk to Raven in private."

Lakhri paled even more, but he merely nodded and left, having squeezed Raven's arm briefly and affectionately. Eeth, as usual, had hit the nail on the head. What left him pale and shaking was not fear of punishment. After all, Eeth had never punished him since he had been knighted, and besides, he knew that he would ultimately be able to handle any punishment that Eeth meted out. No, what made him feel sick to the stomach was the knowledge of having disappointed and betrayed his former master, and his guilty conscience was eating him up.

Eeth, in the meanwhile, treated Raven to a long, intense and scrutinising look. Finally, he said, "Alright. I simply cannot deal with this immediately. I need some time to cool down and think about how to proceed. You will go to your room and wait for me there, and you may keep yourself busy writing down everything that happened."

He pointed at the door to her room, the look on his face making it clear that he would brook no objection.

Raven wanted badly to plead Lakhri's case, to reiterate that this was all on her, but she didn't think that any amount of words could make it better at this point. Thus, she uttered the only two that she knew would be acceptable, being 'yes, master', and left for her bedroom to do as bade. She wasn't sure if Eeth had ever needed time to calm down in order to deal with her, but this was what he had said he was going to do, and that did not bode well for her. Well, Raven had not expected to get out of this without some serious repercussions. The question was, though, just how serious they were going to be, which was making it hard for her to concentrate on her task.

Eeth knelt on his meditation mat and closed his eyes. He knew that he was more angry than he ought to be, and he needed to deal with his anger before he approached his padawan again. Being stern was different from being livid, and meting out punishment while he was in such a degree of fury was out of the question. In fact, he was curious to know where this intense anger came from, and his meditation quickly provided the answer.

* * *

_A three-year-old boy on his way back to his makeshift shelter after a long day out on the streets, trying to scrape a living by running small errands that he would probably not have been paid for, had it not been for his ability to perform Force suggestions; a fact that he became aware of only much later. His stomach was growling with hunger, his right hand wrapped protectively around the small number of coins in his pocket. He was not very good at numbers yet, but he knew the big silver one would buy a sandwich and the small copper one a bottle of clean water. The rest he would save for days on which he was less successful. _

_Suddenly, a figure loomed up before him: a filthy Zabrak with matted hair, a face so dirt-encrusted that his tattoos were invisible, and empty eyes. He was sweating and looked quite deranged. Before he had a chance to make a grab at Eeth, the boy had bolted down the street at what he would realise several years later was Force-enhanced speed. He did not dare approach the shop tonight for fear that his uncle might wait for him there; he had made that mistake once and had lost all his money. Only barely had he been able to escape his death stick-addicted relation. He knew what could happen to children who fell prey to death stick smokers. _

_Curling up in his basement hole, he focussed on the bright light inside himself in order to forget his hunger. He knew instinctively that if he threw all that bright light at his uncle, he could kill the man, but somehow he could never bring himself to do it; that would have made him too similar to those people he detested. The kids in the gangs would love to have a child who could do what he could, he knew, but he kept away from them. They would make him smoke death sticks, and he did not want to become like his uncle and the other zombies around him. He would rather die._

* * *

Eeth rose from his meditative trance after quite a while, feeling more shaken than he had in a long time. _Fear leads to anger._ It was true, he had been afraid when he had listened to his padawan's questions about death sticks, and he had been terrified when he had heard what the healer said. He could not let those fears rule his actions, however. They were his own fears, not his padawan's responsibility. Raven would merely be called to task for the things she had actually done, such as disobeying him outright and endangering her own safety in the process. Which was still plenty bad enough.

When he had regained his composure, he finally rose from his mat and knocked on Raven's door.

Raven jumped a little in her chair at the knock. She had been a million miles away, deep in thought about writing down everything that had happened with her and James. Clearing her throat, she acknowledged him, but could not bring herself to meet his gaze when he entered.

Eeth sat down on her bed.

"Padawan, look at me," he said quietly.

Reluctantly, the padawan did as told. She wasn't sure what expression to expect really, not after having done something like this. Force, Raven would hardly blame him if he was furious. He didn't seem to be, though; instead, he wore the same impassive expression that was typical of him.

"Padawan, I was angrier than I should have been, and I would like to apologise for that," Eeth said quietly. "While it is true that I have every right to be displeased with you, the fury I displayed today has a deeper source, one that has nothing to do with you."

He drew a deep breath and forced himself to go on. It was immensely hard for him to talk about his past but there were some things that he felt Raven needed to know; and if she learned a lesson from his story, that would be all for the better.

"As you know, I was born on Nar Shaddaa," he said. "I lost my father when I was still a baby. I cannot remember it, of course, and nobody has ever provided me with details. But apparently, he was a death stick dealer and was shot by a rivaling gang. My mother refused to have anything to do with death sticks. She worked as a prostitute to keep me fed, and she was strangled by a death stick addict before I turned three. I found her when I awoke in the morning. The landlord turned me out after a week, and I had to make a living on the streets for nearly two years, until a traveling Jedi found me and brought me to the Temple. Had it not been for the Force, I would have died or been sold into slavery. I grew up among people addicted to death sticks who were willing to do absolutely everything, including selling a small child to a slave trader, in order to obtain some money to buy more death sticks. And when they had smoked them, they raped the first victim they could find. I am telling you this because it might explain why your exposure to death sticks caused such a fury in me. It had nothing to do with your gross disobedience and neglect of your safety, which you will suitably be punished for. My anger was caused by fear. There is nothing that terrifies me more than the idea of losing you to the drug that has destroyed my childhood."

He drew another breath, which was shakier than he would have liked. "I dealt with my fears and my anger, and I think I am in control of them now," he said. "I will still make sure to punish you for what you did wrong, but I will try to leave my past out of the picture."

Raven listened to the story of his past with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. Of course she had known that his childhood on Nar Shaddaa was anything but pleasant. However, Eeth wasn't exactly the sharing sort of master, and as a result, Raven really had no idea how bad it had been for him. His story left the padawan lost for words, and she would have done anything to take back the stupid decisions that had led him to relive such a hurtful past.

She swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat at his retelling and shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"I didn't know that about you. I'm sorry that what I did brought it all back." It was all Raven could think of to say to that, mostly because it was the truth, but also because she expected punishment for this. There was a hope that maybe if she did not comment on that part, they could avoid talking about it for a bit longer and talk more about him.

"There is no way you could have known it would," Eeth replied quietly. "But there is no question that you knew you should have walked out as soon as the death stick was lit. If your feelings for James prevented you from doing so, this is something we need to address. I know how hard it is for many padawans to really understand the Jedi philosophy of non-attachment. What happened aboard the starship is a perfect example of the dangers of emotional attachment, especially to outsiders who do not share our values and goals. May I read what you have written?"

The Jedi philosophy of non-attachment was something all Jedi were taught in creche. The problem was that this was one of those things that were rather difficult to learn about from theory and the happenings of a youngling being raised in a Temple. It wasn't until they got out and began to experience the universe that these lessons were truly learned. For the moment, Raven stood, her thoughts centred on the likelihood of an extremely awkward and in-depth discussion on non-attachment. She handed Eeth her datapad and then sat on the bed beside him. The work had been done well, although the contents were embarrassing, at least they were for a twelve-year-old girl.

Eeth perused the contents of the datapad carefully and thought about them for a long while.

Finally, he came to a decision. Rising from her bed, he held out his hand and said, "Padawan, give me your lightsaber."

Confused as to why he was confiscating her weapon, but entirely unwilling to add more disobedience to the list, Raven scooted over and pulled open the bedside drawer that kept her lightsaber. She stood and handed it to him, her expression piteous. "What did I do?" she asked because she was pretty sure no weapons violations or fights were in anything she had written.

"You acted so irresponsibly that I decided to confiscate your lightsaber until further notice," Eeth replied, clipping the weapon to his belt. "You will receive it when you need it for your training; outside those occasions, it will stay with me. I will give it back to you when I feel you have reached a higher level of maturity than you have displayed on our trip back."

The confiscation of a padawan's lightsaber was a rare punishment that was considered rather harsh by Temple standards, mostly because it was so obvious to everyone. Eeth reserved it for instances of grave irresponsibility that seriously jeopardised a padawan's or other persons' safety, and after having read Raven's account, he was definite that this had been the case.

"Master … Harsh," was all Raven could think of to say as she stared at her lightsaber that now dangled from his belt. Yep, walking around the Temple was going to be an ocean of disapproving looks, not to mention the crap she was going to get from her padawan peers. Her breaths began to quicken at the thought, and she was struggling not to say anything she would regret, After all, this was all her fault, and there wasn't anything she could say in her defence.

"It is no more than you deserve," said Eeth severely, "You walked a very dangerous path and were extremely lucky that Lakhri arrived in time. During the next week, you will perform one hour of additional meditation every night on the dangers of attachment and on ways to avoid similar problems in the future. We will talk about your findings afterwards. If I am not satisfied with the level of insight you display, I will extend the period during which additional meditation is required. Do you have any questions on this part of your punishment?"

Extra meditations… Raven sighed, yet, unlike losing her lightsaber, she could hardly say that this was an unexpected outcome. Therefore, she shook her head. "No, master." She was trying hard not to look sullen, but it was hard in the face of what Eeth was dishing out.

The coming week was going to hold yet more punishment, but Eeth left that information until later. He merely said, quite matter-of-factly, "Good. Now go and fetch me the cane."

"Aw no. Please," Raven whined. Not because she thought it underserved, but because of how much it hurt! She stopped short of begging him to reconsider, if only because it was futile. Still, she couldn't help the protest; Raven wasn't scared of him, but she was scared of the pain he was going to cause her.

Eeth's face darkened. "Shall I remind you how exactly you came to be in this situation?" he asked icily. "Padawan, you deserve every stroke of the cane I am going to give you, and if I hear any further objections, I will put you over my knee right here and spank some sense into you before your real punishment even starts."

Raven swallowed at the threat but was not stupid enough to ignore it.

Even walking as slowly as humanly possible, she still arrived at that damn cupboard far too soon for her liking. She hated that he made her fetch it and hand it to him; it seemed to dent her pride that little bit more, which was why he did it, she guessed. Resigned to the fact that dawdling was only going to make it worse, Raven dragged her feet back to her room and, without looking up, reluctantly handed him the cane.

Eeth accepted the cane with a nod and nodded towards Raven's desk chair. "Bare your bottom and bend over," he said curtly.

Glancing up, she couldn't help but groan when he gave that order. Raven wasn't a coward, not by any stretch of the imagination, and nor was she easily intimidated, but this? This was in a league of its own. She yanked the chair away from her desk, then pulled down her trousers and underpants. It was taking her a moment to muster the courage to bend over because quite simply, it was really going to hurt and she didn't want it, deserved or not.

"If you are not in position in three seconds," Eeth said coolly, "I will put you over my knee before the caning, after all. Your choice." He had never had much tolerance for dawdling.

This information drew another whine from the padawan, this one more plaintive. There was no way she was going to risk getting more than he planned on dishing out, though. Force, the thought alone was enough to have her reluctantly bending over the chair.

Without further preliminaries, Eeth raised the cane and snapped it across Raven's bottom with considerable force.

"The next time anyone offers you death sticks or starts smoking one in your presence, you leave immediately and tell me," he said in a tight voice. He rarely lectured while dealing out punishments but this time, he really felt the lesson needed additional emphasis.

CRACK! The second stroke landed right below the first and drew a muted gasp from Raven.

"I do not care if it is a boy you like, if it is Lakhri or Master Yoda himself, you will leave immediately and tell me."

CRACK!

"You will not even consent to inhaling death stick smoke if I personally order you to."

CRACK!

"Am I quite clearly understood?"

Thankfully, by this point, Raven had managed to get enough air into her lungs to let out a yowled response. "Oww! Y-yesss master, please stop, I'm sorry!" she howled, writhing and twisting. Of course, logically Raven knew Eeth would not stop at just four, not for something this serious anyway. He had only given her less than six once, the time she had snuck aboard the rescue ship in order to save him, and that was because Lakhri had already whaled the backside off of her previously.

"After you disobeyed my explicit orders and brought yourself into unspeakable danger? On a mission, no less?" Eeth asked incredulously. "We are not nearly finished here, padawan." Strokes number five and six landed in quick succession right after this statement.

The crown of Raven's bottom was now covered with thin parallel welts, the pain from which was fast becoming unbearable. The problem with this particular implement was that, by design, it hurt so much it took the body a moment to register the pain from each whack. Coupled with someone who knew how to use it made for a wholly unpleasant experience that left the recipient immediately regretting whatever they had done to warrant it.

Raven was in such a state right now: six with the cane were nothing to be sneezed at! Pain receptors on overload, the padawan couldn't stop herself from jumping up, both hands clutching at her bottom. In her opinion, this was the worst caning she had ever received, EVER, and she wasn't going to make it if he gave her any more. "It hurts too much," she wailed.

Eeth grabbed her by her padawan braid and pulled her up short. "Stop it," he hissed. "I know this is painful, but you brought this upon yourself, and you will take what is coming to you. Get back into position. Do you need me to restrain you?"

With one hand covering her backside, and the other grasping at her braid, it was safe to say that Raven was one very sorry padawan right now. Did she need him to restrain her!? No, Raven needed him to stop! This wasn't likely to happen, though, so there wasn't exactly a lot of options open to her. "How many m-more?" she cried out. Raven was trying to pull herself together, but it was hard when her backside was on fire.

Eeth glared at her and used his free hand to pull away the hand that covered her bottom.

"When I tell you that you will take what is coming to you," he growled, "then that is what you are going to do, regardless of how many I am planning on giving you. Now get back into position unless you want the strap on top of this."

Those options were even worse than the previous! And Raven's face said as much. Surely he wouldn't use the strap after this, she thought, yet was not brave enough to test him. Taking as much time as she could possibly get away with, the padawan reluctantly faced the chair and bent over.

Eeth knew that he was being harsh. He was not angry anymore, however; he merely thought it necessary to teach Raven a lesson she would not soon forget. She had endangered her safety by acting against his explicit instructions, and that was not something he was ever going to tolerate. The fact that it had been caused by feelings that she had a hard time dealing with would be explored later, in her evening meditations. Right now, he simply wanted to make exceedingly clear that he expected her to never act this irresponsibly again.

He pulled up her tunic and used a touch of the Force to restrain Raven. She would be able to break this restraint, but only with an effort. Then he raised the cane again and, calmly and firmly, dealt out another half dozen strokes. And they were none too light either.

The only reason Raven managed to stay down for the rest of this was the fact that Eeth was restraining her. Had he not, shit would have been trumps, for this was by far the worst punishment Raven had received to date – especially so as the last two strokes were placed diagonally, crisscrossing the other welts and drawing a yell from Raven that shock the walls. By the time she noticed that Eeth had laid the cane on the desk, Raven was crying for all she was worth. She jumped up from her position over the chair and try desperately to rub some of the soreness from her backside. It never worked, at least not after a caning. Nothing short of Force-aided healing, time or bacta could alleviate the deep ache and burn.

Eeth gave her a minute to calm down slightly. Then he produced a handkerchief from his pocket, held it out to her and said, "You may have five minutes to collect yourself. When you are done, please come out to the common room." With this, he picked up the cane and left.

Raven accepted the handkerchief, nodded and waited for him to close the door before kicking off her trousers and pulling on a clean sleep shirt. Five minutes was not very long, and the padawan had only just managed to calm her cries to sniffles and was carefully cooling her backside on the bathroom tiles when the time was up. Still not ready to forgive him, she sat there for a while longer, content to sulk and entertain different ways to dispose of all her master's implements.

Eeth was ready to give his padawan some leeway after such a harsh punishment, but when she had not emerged after seven minutes, he gave a single knock to her bedroom door and called, "Padawan, come out immediately or I am going to assume you are not interested in having your bottom healed!"

Oh, Raven was interested in healing, she was simply sulking. Now it was a case of what she wanted more. It really wasn't a question, though. So she got to her feet, found a pair of light sleep pants and, arms crossed about her chest, she slunk from her bedroom and into their common room. Raven wasn't angry at Eeth, nor did she think Eeth had been unreasonable, yet sometimes she found it hard not to hold a grudge.

Eeth gazed down at her for a moment. Then he did something that he rarely did: he knelt down and pulled Raven into a hug.

Raven at first kept her arms crossed tightly, but it did not take more than a few seconds before she began to soften and returned the hug. After all, it really wasn't him she was sulking over.

"Undoubtedly you think I have been overly harsh," Eeth said quietly. "And I will heal most of the damage to your bottom in a moment. But I really want you to understand why this happened. This is the second time you risked your safety during a mission by disobeying me outright. A third time might be fatal, and I do not want that to happen. That is why I was so harsh with you. I cannot protect you from all the consequences of your own actions, but the least I can do is make you think twice before you disobey my explicit instructions again. Do you understand?"

Raven could not help but flinch at his words. She did understand, though, which was why she buried her face in his shoulder and nodded.

"I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean it," she sniffled, feeling the guilt resurface at the memory of Eeth's story.

"Unfortunately, worse things have been caused by people who 'did not mean it'," Eeth said wryly, giving her an affectionate pat on the back. He rose and pointed at the sofa. "Lie down and bare your bottom," he instructed. "I am going to apply bacta to it and provide some healing. And then we are going to talk about that other matter; the one where you tried to keep all this from me."

"What do you mean by that?" Raven asked warily while moving to comply.

Eeth unscrewed a jar of bacta and started applying it to the welts on her bottom carefully, letting a generous amount of healing energy flow into the skin.

"Had you not made the ill-advised decision to keep this from me, your punishment would have been over now," he said while he worked. "I expect honesty from you in all things. I cannot do my job as your master if I cannot rely on you to tell me things that I need to know. I can see why that would have been hard for you. But just imagine for a moment that you had developed an addiction that Lakhri would not have been able to stop. Things might have turned out very differently then. I need you to learn that, no matter what you did, owning up will always earn you a less harsh punishment than trying to keep your misbehaviour from me. Therefore, you will receive a spanking every night for a week, right before your evening meditation. It will not be with an implement, but it will nevertheless be designed to encourage you to be honest with me in the future, no matter how embarrassed you might feel."

Raven groaned, twisting to face him. "But masterrr! You already took my lightsaber, assigned endless hours of meditation AND… you just gave me the worst caning I've ever had! You can't spank me as well. Pleeease won't you think of something else, anything else?" she pleaded.

"I am getting tired of being told what I can and cannot do," Eeth replied sternly. "You absolutely deserve this and the fact that you do not want it just makes it all the more effective. How could you possibly imagine that you would get away with asking Lakhri to keep this from me? For that matter, I am none too happy with Lakhri either, but that does not excuse your behaviour. Any more protests and I will assume that my punishment has been too lenient, since you do not seem to have fully understood the seriousness of what you did."

He finished his treatment of Raven's bottom and screwed the jar of bacta shut. Without waiting for a reply, he stood and said, "Lie still for a while and let the bacta take effect. I will order dinner in the meanwhile."

Raven bit her tongue. Firstly because Eeth was rarely in the mood to hear her complaints, especially so over punishment. And secondly, because the repercussions of failing to appreciate the severity of her misdeeds were not going to be anything she wanted to experience!

When Eeth had finished organising their food, Raven stood, carefully, and pulled up her sleep pants. The bacta was slowly taking away the sting, and the Force-aided healing Eeth had done had all but assured that she would have no lasting bruises. The dining room chairs still looked unappealing, so she grabbed a cushion from the couch and threw it on her chair before sitting. "Are you mad at Lakhri?" she asked, looking at him sheepishly. He didn't look mad, but then, Eeth rarely looked anything other than impassive so it was hard to say.

Eeth considered the question for a moment. "I will talk to him and we will settle things between us," he finally said. "That should be none of your concern."

At this point, the door chime rang, and he went to pick up their food.

"Oh," said Raven. That answer had not really helped with the guilt she felt over having dragged Lakhri into all of this. Her thoughts remained on him through most of dinner: was he okay? Was he sitting at home on his own, feeling terrible because of what she had asked him to do? Sighing, Raven realised that, despite having just about every horrendous punishment lobbed on her, she was not grounded! "Maybe I could go and visit him after dinner?" she suggested. It was the first thing Raven had said to Eeth since they had started eating, which was rather unlike her typically chatty self; she had a lot on her mind.

Eeth, however, had other plans. "Not tonight," he said. "Maybe tomorrow after school. Right now, you need to revise your schoolwork. Tomorrow, you will go back to classes. I need to run an errand for an hour or so. When I am back, you will perform the meditation I assigned you."

"Yes, master," she replied through a yawn. Truth be told, she was exhausted and was not really up to going out; and the idea became even more unappealing when she reached for her saber to discover it was no longer there. Glancing sideways at her weapon that now hung like a beacon for all to see from her master's belt, the padawan just groaned.

"Where are you going?" she asked curiously, trying to keep her mind off the confiscated lightsaber, Lakhri and everything else that she had to 'look forward' to.

"On a short errand, as I said," Eeth said, giving her a brief smile to show that he was not secretive in order to spite her. In truth, he was going to see Lakhri, but he thought that was a private matter and up to the knight to reveal or not to reveal to Raven. He knew his former padawan quite well. The man was eaten up by guilt, and while Eeth agreed that he had every right to feel guilty, the situation needed to be resolved.

He made sure that Raven got started on her work, left their quarters and made his way to Lakhri's room.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: We've reached the last chapter of this story. Thanks for staying with us during Eeth's and Raven's adventure and for giving us such encouraging feedback! We hope you'll join us for the next instalment in the series. In "Going Back in Time", Eeth will face the demons that Raven's death stick escapade conjured up…

* * *

"Master," said Lakhri upon opening the door. Eeth did not fail to notice the formal way in which his former padawan was addressing him, nor the fact that Lakhri avoided looking him in the face.

"What do you expect me to reply to that? 'Padawan'?" he asked wryly. "You are not my padawan any longer. May I enter?"

"Yes, yes, of course," said Lakhri quickly, beckoning him inside and inviting him to take a seat.

Eeth took the offered seat in his usual dignified manner. He directed a penetrating look right at Lakhri's face until the man finally, and reluctantly, raised his eyes to meet Eeth's gaze. Only then did Eeth start to speak.

"First of all," he said, "I would like to apologise for the ire I have displayed earlier. I should not have been this angry. The realisation that my padawan had inhaled death stick smoke and that worse things might have happened, had it not been for your intervention, roused some of my deepest-seated fears. I know that I have never told you much about my childhood. Well, the fact that I was orphaned at a young age was largely owed to the influence of death sticks, just as the misery of the two years that followed. The notion that a padawan of mine might fall prey to death sticks is one that I am extremely afraid of, given my personal history, and that was what caused such a fury in me."

Lakhri just stared at Eeth, mouth slightly agape. Hadn't he expected the scolding of all scoldings? Being on the receiving end of an apology was definitely not how he had imagined this talk would go!

"That said," Eeth continued in a considerably sterner tone of voice, "it was certainly an extremely misguided idea to keep all this from me, my personal childhood experiences notwithstanding. What could you possibly have been thinking?"

Lakhri relaxed very slightly. That type of reprimand was exactly what he had expected of Eeth, which was strangely comforting.

"I haven't been thinking at all," he admitted. "Or rather, I thought that there was no way I could keep this from you, and still I did it, against better judgment. Raven was so distressed; I let her tears get to me and, umm, I could kind of understand why she would feel mortally embarrassed at the prospect of having to discuss her feelings for this boy with you. I know the decision was wrong, and I have felt sorry for it ever since."

"Rightly so," Eeth said, still rather sternly. "I needed to know about this immediately. For health reasons, obviously, but that is not all there is to it. Raven needs to learn how to deal with the feelings and priorities that led to this whole debacle, and she will do so quite extensively over the coming week. Lakhri, this is not an issue of being late for dinner or forgetting her homework. Punishment aside – and she has received quite a memorable punishment – this is an issue that you could not simply allow her to hide from me, whether she meant to own up to it eventually or not!"

"I know," Lakhri said contritely, guilt written all over his face. "I'm not trying to justify my decision in any way. It was plain wrong. I betrayed you and, quite honestly, I don't know how I will ever be able to regain your trust."

"Lakhri," Eeth said much more gently. "We have known each other for nearly twenty years. My trust in you is not at stake here."

Lakhri's face brightened a little at hearing that, but he still looked guilt-ridden.

"Master," he said hesitantly. "I really would like to make it up to you. I need to feel that things are alright between us again. I was wondering if… well…" He could not quite bring himself to completing the sentence.

"Would you like me to discipline you?" Eeth, who would have been very surprised if the conversation had not reached this point, asked matter-of-factly.

Lakhri's face flushed a bright red. "Yes, master," he admitted. "I know it's not my place to tell you what to do, but I feel I deserve it."

"Alright," Eeth said simply, standing up. "I will punish you as I would have done had you been a senior padawan and committed the same thing. That said, I want to make it clear that I am doing this because you asked me to and because you seem to need it, not because I am still in a position to mete out punishment for misbehaviour to you."

"I understand," Lakhri said quietly and a little apprehensively, and rose to his feet as well.

"Good," Eeth said. "Then go to the nearest meditation garden and cut me three sturdy switches, please."

Lakhri's expression turned to one of horror. He hated being switched with a passion, and the thought of three switches at once was next to unbearable. Besides, everybody was going to see him walking back to his quarters with the switches in hand!

"But, master…" he said weakly, his voice trailing off; he did not really have a lot of good arguments on his side. Eeth apparently agreed with this assessment. He gave his padawan a pointed look and said sternly: "You asked for this. We are going to do this on my terms. Now get to it."

Lakhri did not dare voice any further protest; he fetched a knife from the kitchen and hurried off.

Eeth was fully intending to mete out a harsh punishment. If he did not punish Lakhri in a way that reflected the severity of his transgression, there would be no point to it. Besides, Lakhri was an adult Jedi knight who was well able to handle pain.

After a few minutes, Lakhri returned from the garden, looking quite miserable. No matter how inconspicuous he had tried to look, several passing knights had given him knowing looks. Nevertheless, the switches he had brought showed that he was clearly determined not to make this easy on himself. Eeth inspected them, gave an approving nod and said, "You know the drill, Lakhri. Bare your bottom and bend over a chair." Lakhri's quarters held chairs that were produced for smaller species and therefore allowed him to bend over without his feet leaving the floor.

Lakhri gave an unhappy nod and complied. A short while later, he was bent over a chair, standing on tiptoes, his bare backside sticking up, and Eeth stepped behind him, switches in hand.

He raised the switches and brought them down onto Lakhri's bottom. Unlike he had done with Raven, who was only a twelve-year-old girl, he did not hold back at all, and Lakhri could not help letting out a pain-filled yowl. Unperturbed, Eeth started painting Lakhri's bottom with angry red stripes while the knight hollered and yelped, his fingers gripping the seat of the chair so tightly that his knuckles turned white. At one point, he started stomping his feet so wildly that Eeth brought the switches down onto the backs of his thighs, ordering him to stop this instantly. It was at this point that Lakhri broke down and started sobbing. Eeth brought the now well-worn switches down twice more for good measure and then dropped them. He rested a comforting hand on Lakhri's back and waited for him to regain his composure.

Lakhri finally straightened slowly, still crying. "I-I'm sorry, m-master," he brought out, groping for a handkerchief.

"You are forgiven, Lakhri," Eeth said, pulling him into a brief and a little awkward hug. This seemed to console Lakhri; he quieted down and started cleaning his tear-streaked face.

"I'll never do anything like this again," he promised.

"I know," Eeth reassured him, releasing him from the hug. "I need to go back to Raven now. Will you be alright?"

Lakhri nodded. "Yes," he said sincerely. "Thank you, master. I feel much better, although my backside doesn't."

"Do you have bacta?" Eeth asked. "I officially allow you to use it on your bottom." His eyes crinkled slightly as he said that.

"Thank you, master. Umm, Eeth," Lakhri said, grinning. "I daresay I will."

Five minutes later, Eeth returned to their quarters, knocking on Raven's door.

* * *

While Eeth was out, Raven did her best to concentrate on her work, yet this proved difficult as she had a lot on her mind. Was James alright? What was he doing now? Was the relationship between Eeth and Lakhri ever going to be the same or had she really ruined it? Were Maris and her uncle coping, now that Dartan was no longer employing them? Eventually, Raven fell asleep, the events of the last few days proving too much for her. As a result, very little work was actually completed when she was startled awake by a knock at her door. Instinctively, her hand reached for her missing lightsaber, causing a groan. Eeth had taken it off her because she had acted so irresponsibly, and there was no telling when she'd get it back.

"Come in," she said through a yawn, slumping sleepily back onto her bed.

Eeth entered and raised his eyebrows. "I seem to remember I told you to revise your school work," he remarked, but he did not sound particularly annoyed. He assumed that Raven had been quite exhausted.

"Sorry, master," Raven replied earnestly. "I started but I was too tired," she admitted, getting to her feet once again and meeting him with an expression that silently begged him not to scold her too much, as she was already feeling bad enough.

"Did you do what you needed to do?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Yes," Eeth said, giving her a brief smile. "Let us go to the common room and get you started on your meditation now." He was willing to give her some leeway as far as class work was concerned but she was not going to get out of her meditation.

Wordlessly, Raven followed him into their common room, pulled out her mat and plopped onto it. She was not looking forward to meditating, but was resigned to the fact that it was going to happen regardless of how she felt about it. Despite this acceptance, Raven gave him a put-upon expression and waited for instructions.

"You will devote this week's special meditations to the issue of attachment," Eeth told her, pointedly ignoring her lack of enthusiasm. "The concept of non-attachment is complex. It does not mean an absence of emotions or a lack of affection or sympathy. Rather, it means the ability to prioritise the aims of the Jedi Order over these emotions. In this meditation, I would like you to contemplate your feelings on James that led to your experience with death sticks and on your feelings about other persons who are important to you. Think about the ways in which these feelings might help you to fulfil your duty to the Jedi Order or prevent you from fulfilling them; and think about the kind of emotional ties that you need to survive, and those that you might do without. I will want to talk to you about your insights when you are done."

In the meanwhile, he was going to perform a meditation of his own. He had issues he needed to work through as well. The sudden upsurge of childhood memories had unsettled him deeply, not that Raven needed to know that!

His padawan, unaware of his thoughts, nodded, got comfortable and closed her eyes. She had no idea how this was going to go so she cracked an eyelid to see what her master was doing. Ugh! His eyes were already closed. She was often envious of Eeth's ability to do this with such ease; for her, meditating had never come easy. She was such a fidgety, restless, energetic personality.

She spent the first part of their meditation simply focusing on his explanation, as the concept of non-attachment had never really been clear to her, and although she understood the mechanics, living it was an entirely different ball game.

Satisfied that she understood what he meant, Raven moved on to her feelings. How did she feel about those that were important to her? Well, that was hard to answer, as it was different for each person. This caused an audible sigh, and she wriggled in frustration as her focus wavered; she would simply have to go at this one at a time.

Taking a deep breath, Raven began to focus on her feelings for James and immediately her shields came up. She wanted Eeth's help. Force, she was even semi-resigned to the fact that said feelings would need to be shared. Yeah, well apparently this was going to be more difficult than she anticipated as it took quite a bit of effort to refocus herself. Eventually, Raven found the part of her mind reserved for James and began exploring it.

The first feelings were of friendship and fondness: James was fun to be around and she enjoyed his company. Next came the mutual attraction they had felt for each other, the butterfly feeling in her stomach when talking to him, and the desire to be liked and accepted. Finally, was the rejection, pain and humiliation over what had happened between them. How did these feelings help or hinder her ability to fulfil her duty to the Jedi Order? Well, she didn't know. Scrubbing at her eyes the padawan groaned. However, when Eeth projected a feeling of sternness through their bond, and told her to _continue_, Raven did so.

It wasn't easy, but Raven managed to extrapolate a conclusion: her desire to be liked and accepted, her feelings of fondness towards James had prevented her from following her orders and making the right choices. This in turn led to a dangerous situation. Was this an emotional tie that she could do without? Probably, yeah, although she wasn't even sure it was an emotional tie. James was just a boy she kinda liked, and she did not regret the experience, just the way she had dealt with it.

All this introspection was like mental gymnastics for the padawan, and she was not keen on continuing it. Sending a strong desire to end the meditation across their bond, Raven opened one eye, hoping to be released for now. Had it been an hour? Surely it had to have been an hour by now!

As a matter of fact, it had been fifty minutes and Eeth conveyed to her as much. He was not going to let her off before the hour was up, nor did he intend to let his padawan go without a very thorough discussion on her insights and the implications of the Jedi philosophy of non-attachment. He knew that Raven was anything but keen on discussing her feelings with him, but then, he had never been keen on discussing such things with his own master either, and that had never kept her from forcing him to do so!

What was more important, Raven needed to learn – as painful as that insight might be – that there was no future for any kind of relationship with young men outside the Order if she wanted to pursue her career as a Jedi, and that such feelings could prove an obstacle to achieving that goal. At the same time, he wanted her to be equally clear about the fact that the Jedi did not discourage their members from developing ties of friendship or affection. It was a difficult balance to achieve, and at some point or other, every padawan reached the point where this issue had to be explored in depth so that acceptable attachments could be distinguished from unacceptable ones. For Raven, apparently, that time was now although she would have doubtlessly prefered it if it had never come.

Eeth's assumption was correct: this was hard for Raven. The problem with that was that Eeth had never let her give up simply because something was difficult. Thus, the padawan finished the entire hour before he let her stop.

"So?" Eeth asked, sitting on the meditation mat to face her. "Any revelations?"

"I wouldn't call it a revelation per se," the padawan replied. She began to reiterate her findings and explained the conclusion she had drawn from it. "But it's different for every person. I mean, I don't have the same feelings for James as I do for you, Orion or Lakhri, you know?"

Eeth nodded. "There are different kinds of emotional attachment, and few species can actually live without any of them. The kind of feelings you had for James, however, have no future in the life you have chosen for yourself, even without the involvement of death sticks. Do you know why that is?"

"Because those feelings interfere with my judgement and my ability to serve the Order and do my duty. The thing is, I didn't actually want to marry him and start a family or anything. I just liked him and," Raven blushed, "it felt good that he liked me back."

"I did not actually assume you were thinking of establishing a family with him at age twelve," Eeth said wryly. "The desire to be liked and accepted is quite common in teenagers. It is also a source of many problems in a life where the duty towards the Order has top priority. That said, it would be unrealistic to expect you to avoid other teenagers at all cost. What do you think you could do to avoid creating similar problems when something like that happens again?"

"Well, not taking drugs that mess with my judgement and hormones would be a good place to start," she observed. "Also, I guess not letting my feelings for a person interfere with my duty to you and the Order?" Eeth's questioning was making Raven feel like an Initiate all over again, yet she could see how it was helping her work through it, even if it wasn't the easiest topic to discuss.

Eeth nodded. "It is easy to forget who you are sometimes, when you are out of the Temple, and even easier when you are working undercover," he said. "And that is where the big challenge lies: never to forget who you are and what makes you different from someone like James. I do not mean to sound conceited; we are not better than beings who are not Force-sensitive, per se, but we are different and our way of life is different. You forgot that for a while, and that was one of the problems. Meditation helps maintain your focus on the Force and on your role as a Jedi padawan. That is why regular meditation is so important. It is not a chore or a punishment, but an indispensable part of a Jedi's life."

Raven knew this, at least in theory. The problem was that it was often easier said than done, especially when it came to meditation.

"I'm sorry, master, I won't forget again," she replied sheepishly.

"Good," Eeth replied with a small smile.

His smile had her own lip twitching into a grin, and then she met his gaze with a curious expression. "Did you ever forget? I mean, have you ever fallen for a girl before?" she asked. This was not something Raven would typically ask of her not very sharing master, but if she had to share than she thought it only fair he returned that trust. Besides, she genuinely wanted to know if what happened between her and James had ever happened to him.

Eeth hesitated. This was a very intimate question and he did not generally like discussing intimate matters. However, he had just required Raven to discuss extremely personal questions with him and he had no good excuse for refusing to do so himself. Besides, he felt that he owed his padawan the same amount of honesty that he demanded from her.

"No," he therefore replied truthfully. "Only for a boy."

Raven blinked. Okay, so there were a myriad of sexual identities in the universe, and she had been educated about many of them. To hear that Eeth was a homosexual, although that was not at all uncommon, surprised her, though.

"You loved a boy? Would you tell me what happened, who was the boy?" she asked, hoping to hear more of his story.

"Nothing much 'happened'," Eeth replied reluctantly. "It was more than twenty-five years ago and I have long gotten over it. At the time, I was a padawan and … well, I felt strongly attracted to an older padawan. The feeling was mutual. We got our feelings under control eventually. It was hard work and needed a lot of help from our masters, but we succeeded. Today, we are on friendly terms, no more." He could not quite hide the fact that he felt acutely uncomfortable talking about this but he was making an effort to be truthful.

Raven sensed his discomfort and didn't want to make it worse, but this was a conversation that she doubted would ever come up again, so she wanted to ask while the opportunity still existed. "Did it get physical? Has it ever gotten physical for you?" Raven wanted to know, her face pinkening at the memory of her own experience with James. She couldn't imagine that Eeth would ever let something like that happen to him; in her eyes he was the epitome of Jedi perfection. Then again, Eeth couldn't possibly have been born knowing it all, as much as it felt that way to Raven most of the time.

"No," Eeth replied, eyebrows raised. "Which is what I implied when I said that 'nothing much happened'. Fortunately for both of us, the other boy was a Jedi padawan as well, and a quite mature one. I have to admit that I do not know what might have happened had he been younger and less responsible. At the time, I was quite convinced of my own infallibility and was certain that I was able to handle both a sexual relationship and my commitment to the Order. I was wrong, of course, and luckily, the other boy was more in control than I was. It has not happened again. These days, I simply set my mind to other things."

Raven nodded. It was a fair enough explanation, after all, and she didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

* * *

By the time Friday afternoon came around, Raven was well and truly over classes, not to mention sick to death of all the titters and sniggers her lack of lightsaber was drawing. Entering their quarters an hour late due to detention, Raven tossed her cloak onto the side table and noted with a sigh that the comlink message from her astro physics teacher had already been received.

"Master," she bowed a greeting. Eeth was seated at their dining room table, buried in what looked like yet more documentation regarding the Escolar crisis.

"Padawan," said Eeth neutrally, raising his head from his work. He had so far been pleased with her acceptance of her extended punishment. Today, apparently, she had lost it.

"Would you care to explain what made you assault your fellow student?" he inquired, beckoning for her to sit down.

"I feel," said Raven, inadvertently adopting a tone Eeth often used with her, "that 'assault' is a gross overstatement."

"Padawan," snapped Eeth. "Did you or did you not physically attack him?"

"I threw a whiteboard pointer, it wasn't like I shot him or anything, is all I'm saying," said Raven, holding up her hands in placation.

"I did not claim you shot him," Eeth said sternly. "Tell me what happened."

Raven sighed, but wasn't about to push him further. She slid into the chair opposite, rested her head on a hand and slouched.

"Grett was giving me a hard time about not having my lightsaber, again! And I," Raven cleared her throat, knowing he probably wouldn't be overly sympathetic, "kinda lost my temper and nailed him with the laser pointer." It was deserved! More than deserved! But Raven wasn't about to go down that path with Eeth.

"I see," Eeth replied quite calmly. "And do you think you are going about it the right way if you want to earn your lightsaber back in the near future?"

"No, master." She shot him a resigned expression, but just wished that he would cut her some slack and give back her lightsaber already!

"Why not?" Eeth asked, a hint of steel in his voice that indicated that he was not in the least inclined to "cut her some slack."

Despite her frustrations, Eeth's tone was noted and so she refrained from voicing them.

"Because I shouldn't have let him get to me. It's not very Jedi-like to take revenge," she replied, wanting to thump her head onto the table. But she thought that was a little too dramatic, even for her.

"You should not let your peers affect you," Eeth said. "Which is what the whole lesson I am trying to teach you is about. I was going to give you your saber back on Sunday night but in light of recent events, your time without a saber will be extended by a week. Furthermore, tonight's spanking will be with the paddle, rather than my hand. Now fetch your gym bag. We will practice Force pushes today. You will not need your saber for that."

Hearing that she had been so close to having her saber returned, only to have it taken away again, not to mention the upgrade, had Raven kicking at the floor in frustration.

This was Grett's fault! He had started it, he totally had! But Raven refrained, at least this time, from further complaints; she did understand Eeth's reasoning, and this week had been bad enough as it was. Thus, the padawan turned on her heel and went to her bedroom, her gait, if nothing else, making it clear that she was none too happy with his decision.

The problem with walking around the Temple with Eeth at the moment was the fact that he carried her lightsaber, which was practically impossible to hide as two lightsabers looked rather conspicuous dangling from one person! Unsurprisingly, they could not arrive at their training room fast enough for Raven. She dashed to a far corner, turned towards the bench and started pretending to mess around with the contents of her gym bag until Eeth caught up. Yep, this was what her life has come to, she complained, if only to herself, as she put her water bottle out on the bench.

Eeth knew that this punishment must be hard to bear for a twelve-year-old; it had been hard to bear for himself at a much later age, for that matter. But this was a lesson that she simply needed to learn.

Eeth had started working with Raven on her skills at using Force pushes against non-human opponents, which, not unexpectedly, she found a lot harder than doing it against living opponents. However, it was an important skill, as battle droids were becoming increasingly popular. He had booked a gym where he had her practice throwing off a battle droid for more than an hour.

After that, he took her to the trampoline where she could blow off some steam doing leaps and flips.

"Feeling better?" he asked while they made their way to the shower.

"Yes, master," replied Raven, because after a frustrating session trying to force push the stupid droid, she truly appreciated their time on the trampoline!

Fifteen minutes later the pair were heading back to their quarters.

"Do you remember when I went to see Lakhri on Tuesday?" she asked, doing her best to ignore the looks of disapproval from passing Jedi with mixed success. "Well, I might have said I would try and coerce you into making us some Careenian food tonight. I wanted to do something nice for him to make up for what I did on the mission. He said he'd come over if he wasn't swamped with marking, and if you were okay with it."

"I am," said Eeth. "I have not seen Lakhri since the day we returned from Larivan. Call him and invite him. I will need your help preparing dinner, though."

"Course I'll help, it will be fun," replied Raven. And it would be; it was one of the activities that she enjoyed doing with him most. Besides, apart from half an hour after class on Tuesday, Raven had not seen Lakhri either. It was going to be a good night. Well, if you didn't include the extra meditation and … the girl sighed. Having to get spanked each night for the entire week had not been easy, and it was very hard for her not to let it suck the wind from her sails or dwell on it. She gave a passing knight who frowned at her lack of lightsaber a dirty look.

"Padawan," Eeth said, a clear warning in his voice. "Ignore him."

"That's easier to say when it's not you who has to do the ignoring," Raven replied.

"Do you think I have never had to go without my lightsaber as a padawan?" Eeth asked coolly. "I know the feeling. And I have not claimed it is easy to ignore the others. But since when are you allowed to limit your efforts to things that are easy to do?"

Raven huffed at that last question because the answer was obvious. "Well, it just sucks, is all, and I'm tired of everyone giving me a hard time over this. Please, won't you reconsider and give it back, please?"

"No," Eeth said calmly. "Consider it a valuable learning experience." He pressed the panel, and the door to their quarters swished open.

"Go and call Lakhri," he told Raven.

Raven strode inside, annoyed but unwilling to push Eeth too far.

"Heya, Lakhri, mission to have Eeth cook was successful," she grinned. "We could use some company."

"Sure," Lakhri said brightly. "I'm always happy to have Careenian food for dinner. Well, and pleasant company. And to give you a bit of a break from Eeth… is he listening?"

"He is," said Eeth severely, returning from his room where he had stowed the two lightsabers in his desk drawer. "You may come for dinner if you give us a break from your jokes."

Lakhri chuckled. "See you later," he said and terminated the call.

It was fun helping out. Raven did enjoy cooking with Eeth; he was also great at it, which helped. She had climbed up on the bench to retrieve a bowl that was out of her reach when something occurred to her. "Will you teach me how to land without making any noise?" she asked while jumping to the ground, bowl in hand. Raven had noticed that she lacked the ability to do this as well as Eeth when she had been held up in the storeroom on Larivan. He had had to levitate her down so as not to alert anyone to their presence.

"Of course," said Eeth. "We will work on it tomorrow." He was usually quite willing to take up Raven's suggestions with regard to teaching her new skills, provided they were worth learning. This one definitely was.

Raven smiled; it was something to look forward to. Well, other than dinner which smelt amazing!

Once everything had been done and dinner was taking care of itself, Raven grabbed her datapad and headed for the couch. She had every intention of spending that time reading a piloting manual that she had downloaded from the archives. However, barely five minutes in, she was fast asleep, datapad on her chest.

A little while later, Lakhri arrived. Eeth had set up the door panel to recognise him ever since he had been knighted, so he let himself into the apartment. Eeth was busy on the comm, giving details on a ring of weapon smugglers to a knight in fast, clipped tones. He looked at Lakhri, smiled, gestured for him to make himself comfortable and held up five fingers to indicate that this would take him five more minutes. Lakhri nodded and, glancing around, saw Raven sleep. A slow grin formed on his face as he remembered her attempt to give him a morning fright during their mission. He made his way to the kitchen and found a bowl of achagga fruit. They were about the size and shape of a large slug and, once the thick skin was removed, felt remarkably like a slimy slug, too. He quickly peeled a fruit and made his way back to Raven. There, he knelt next to the couch where she would not immediately see him when she woke up, gently manoeuvred the piece of fruit under her tunic and started wriggling it around on her belly.

The odd sensation of something slimy sliding on her belly bought Raven into semi-consciousness. Her eyes went wide as saucers as she grabbed for whatever was beneath her tunic, and she let out a blood-curdling screech when it squashed in her hand! Raven sprang to her feet, ripped off her tunic, tossed it across the room and leapt onto the coffee table, waiting for whatever it was to crawl out of the discarded shirt. It was at that moment that she spotted a laughing Lakhri and put two and two together.

"You horror!" she said with mock indignation and, not caring that she was standing on their coffee table wearing nothing but her trousers, leapt to tackle him. Which, she realised mid-air, was probably not the smartest form of revenge she had at her disposal, as taking him on, fun or not, was a 'battle' she was destined to lose.

However, after the raving success of his prank, Lakhri was happy to surrender; all the more so as he was laughing so hard he was close to collapsing.

Accustomed to Eeth, Raven was shocked at being allowed to 'win' the wrestling match, and consequently once she had him pinned down, she did not know what hideous vengeance to exact upon his person. Well, this was unusual, and so she settled for simply sitting on him and declaring herself the winner.

"I give up!" Lakhri panted, dropping onto his back and raising his palms. "Let's call it quits!"

"Hmm, well, I suppose I can let you escape just this one time but only because I've already got you into too much trouble this month, and if we make any more noise, Eeth will have a heart attack." She glanced up to where Eeth was speaking, his back turned towards them and leaning closer into the speaker. Grinning from ear to ear, Raven decided to get off him, grabbed her tunic and offered him a hand up.

Eeth terminated the call and rose, an irritated frown creasing his brow. "I could have done without all the noise," he said sternly. "Hello, Lakhri. Padawan, why are you not wearing a tunic ?"

"Hello Eeth," said Lakhri, doing his best to look innocent. "I cannot imagine why she would want to run around half-naked."

Raven stood tall, tunic clutched in her hand. "Lakhri started it," she said, shamelessly shifting the blame on to the knight, although the smile in her eyes and grin that spread across her face were making it hard to maintain the indignant facade.

"Hmm," said Eeth disapprovingly. "I do not care who started it. It was inconsiderate. Now help me set the table. Dinner will be ready soon."

"Great," said Lakhri enthusiastically. "I'm really hungry."

"That," said Eeth wryly, "is nothing new."

Soon after, they were sitting at the table and enjoying the variety of Careenian stews Eeth had prepared with Raven's help.

"Want to come to the gaming lounge with me after dinner?" Lakhri asked Raven, unaware of the extent of her punishment. Normally, they would have talked about this but when they had last met, he had been so wrapped up in his own misery, and Raven had been so busy apologising, that he had never got around to asking her about the consequences Eeth had imposed.

"Yes, absolutely I do!" Raven replied, only to lose the exuberance as she noticed the expression on Eeth's face. "Master, c'mon. GIve me a break here. Hasn't it been horrendous enough? Pleeeease let me?"

Eeth raised his eyebrows. "You have an hour of additional meditation to perform," he reminded her. "Plus your other punishment."

Lakhri snorted. "Don't even start trying to be secretive about it," he scoffed. "He's giving you the mean-and-evil treatment, then, huh?" he asked Raven.

"He is. It's been five days already," she complained. Raven slumped into her chair. The truth was that she hadn't really expected Eeth to completely let her off but hoped that, perhaps, he might just waylay it this one time so she could have some fun. Raven hadn't had any fun since he had taken her lightsaber, not really.

"He seems to like the number seven, for some reason," Lakhri informed her. "Maybe he thinks it's a magic number."

"Or maybe," Eeth said frostily, "'he' thinks that if it is bad enough to warrant a repeated punishment, it is bad enough to warrant a week's worth of it."

Lakhri decided not to argue any further; after all, he had been the one catching Raven high on death sticks and about to have sex during a mission, and trying to spare her from punishment from that had definitely been one of his less-than-genius ideas.

Raven sunk even further into her chair, if such a thing were at all possible. "And just in case I didn't already feel bad enough over the whole thing, and for what I did to Lakhri, you took my lightsaber away on top of everything else and made me feel even worse!" Raven complained. She thought it wise not to mention the repercussions her bit of payback had earned her; it had been Grett's fault, even if she had let him get to her.

"I am going to make you feel even worse if you do not stop complaining," Eeth said evenly, helping himself to a piece of sliced fruit.

"You're gonna make me feel even worse anyway," Raven countered.

"Yes," said Eeth sternly. "But just how much worse still remains to be seen. Giving me cheek will not help."

Raven huffed, folding her arms.

"Better not test him," Lakhri told Raven. "He hates whining, even if he's the one who gave you something to whine about. Anyway, you needn't feel bad about what you allegedly did to me. You didn't do anything. I was being stupid, is all."

"But I should feel bad, and I do! It wasn't alleged. I shouldn't have asked you," Raven said earnestly. She wanted to let them both know that she was trying to take this with some degree of dignity, even if she didn't like it and felt guilty. Raven had felt guilty all week, in fact, despite the additional meditations.

"Well, yes," Lakhri said, "but I'm the adult and should have known better. You just wanted to avoid embarrassment and punishment, which is natural. And if anyone has been wronged here, it's Eeth, so stop worrying about me."

"I wasn't trying to avoid punishment, just the embarrassment. I mean, for the Force's sake, who wouldn't be embarrassed about doing all of those things?" Raven defended herself.

"Hopefully nobody," Eeth said brusquely, finishing his piece of fruit. "But that is not a good reason to avoid the consequences. If you still feel guilty towards Lakhri, however, I am happy to relinquish tonight's punishment to him. That way, you might be able to stop going on about this."

"Huh?" said Lakhri, completely flabbergasted. "How come a dinner invitation turned into a proposal to spank someone? No effing way."

"As you wish," Eeth said calmly, offering him the last remnants of dessert. "You do know, of course, that sometimes such punishments help to assuage feelings of guilt. But maybe you should ask Raven how she feels about this. I would not know."

Lakhri took the bowl, but hesitated to give an answer. Having asked his own master for a spanking only a few days ago, he did know that such things could help. That did not mean he had to enjoy the idea, however.

"Raven?" he asked tentatively. "You can tell me it's a stupid idea. I mean, as the idea comes from Eeth, you might consider being more tactful about it… but you can tell me, really."

Raven was practically under the table by the time the conversation came back her way, and she just stared at them like a bantha caught in a spotlight. She coughed. "Well, to tell you the truth, I don't want to be spanked at all, by anyone. Ever! But," she sighed. "Master is right. I do feel bad about what I did, and even worse for causing problems between you. Honestly, I didn't mean to do that, Lakhri."

Lakhri rolled his eyes. "Force, will you stop apologizing for a moment?" he asked. "Eeth and I are fine. You and I are fine. If spanking you makes you feel better, I'll be h… well, I'd be lying if I said I'd be happy to, but I'd do it anyway."

Raven was sorely tempted to roll her eyes back at him, but given the direction of this conversation, she thought better of it.

"It's going to hurt, so no, that part won't make me feel any better. But if you do it, I won't feel like it is unfinished and like I always need to apologise for what I did, because you will have taken care of it. I still feel guilty, I can't help it. I've been meditating about it," she admitted, finding this conversation almost as embarrassing as the deed that had led to it. Almost.

Lakhri found the conversation just as embarrassing as Raven, and that was why he was grateful to Eeth for having brought it up, otherwise they might have ended up talking about the weather. Just as Eeth had sensed his needs and voiced them when he himself did not know how to do so, he had presented a solution to Raven's lingering feelings of guilt that she herself would never have dreamt of bringing up. If it helped, he was fine with it; after all, any spanking he dealt out could be no worse than what Eeth would have done instead.

"Well, okay, then I take you up on your oh-so-kind offer," he told Eeth. "Gonna save your hands wear and tear, after all."

"Actually," Eeth said, his voice and face unmoved, "her spanking was upgraded to a paddling tonight. There would have been no wear and tear on my hands at all."

Lakhri sighed. "Oh joy," he said, correctly assuming that Eeth would want him to use the paddle, then.

Raven was also grateful to Eeth for having brought it up. The problem with this whole thing was that it was the lesser of two evils, neither of which she wanted, but the latter of which might help with the guilt. Then, there had been a slim chance that she would get out of being paddled. Yeah, right. The padawan groaned, dragging a hand down her face as Eeth destroyed any hopes of that happening. She dropped her head into an elbow, not wanting to think about this and wishing the floor would open up and swallow her.

"Master, can't we come to some sort of arrangement here?" Raven said, her voice slightly muffled from the fact that she had buried it in her elbow. She looked up at him, her face pink. "Maybe I could just do some extra chores for Lakhri or something, and then no one would have to endure the task." And Raven was under no illusion that Lakhri was not going to enjoy having to do this, but he would dislike it nowhere near as much as she would hate being on the receiving end of it.

"The way in which you are punished is not open for debate," Eeth snapped. "If you continue to argue, you may just end up having to do chores on top of receiving a paddling tonight."

The look Raven levelled him with was nothing short of piteous. "Harsh," she complained. Apparently, unless the Temple was to suddenly fall under attack, she wasn't going to get out of this. It could happen, though. Never give up hope, right? Right!

"Yes," Eeth agreed. "And entirely deserved. Have you finished eating? Then let us clear the table."

Lakhri gave Raven a sympathetic smile but no more than that. He had no idea what Raven had done to deserve a paddling but if Eeth thought she did, that was the way it was.

Once the table had been cleared, Raven wandered into the common room and turned on the galactic news channel. She was hoping to hear something positive for a change, instead of all the fighting and wars that tended to keep the Jedi constantly busy.

Eeth and Lakhri joined her. The news, as usual, covered everything from the crowning of the new King of Alderaan to the Escolar crisis; there were no surprises that night. When the half hour of news was over, Eeth switched the holo channel off and gave Lakhri a meaningful look. With an internal sigh, Lakhri turned to Raven and said, "Well, let's get this over with. Come on." He tried to sound firm but his lack of enthusiasm was still coming across quite clearly.

Lakhri's reluctance was noticed and it amplified Raven's guilt. "Lakhri, you don't have to do this, really," she said, putting a hand on his arm. Two reasons: first and foremost because she was quite a compassionate person herself and was feeling bad for having gone along with this now. Secondly, she didn't want it; it was going to really hurt!

"I know I don't have to," said Lakhri, steeling his resolve. "But I will. Let's go to your room. Eeth, about the paddle? You know you're probably the only person in the Temple who carries one around in his belt. I certainly don't. So, if you absolutely want me to use one–"

He broke off because Eeth was already holding out his small paddle to him.

"Thanks," said Lakhri, accepting it. He pointed Raven to her room.

Raven went without complaint, which wasn't to say she didn't have any! She totally did. The padawan blew out a sigh when he closed the door behind them. She turned to face him, forcing herself to meet his gaze.

"Alright," said Lakhri. "Bare your bottom, bend over your desk chair." He might not be thrilled about doing this but he did have a clear idea how to do it. After all, he had been on the receiving end of Eeth's paddle more often than he cared to remember!

"You're really going to make it that bad?" Raven asked while pulling her chair out from the desk. She had kinda hoped that he might go a bit easier on her, just a bit! But that paddle on her bare backside was going to be far from it.

"There wouldn't be any point to this if I didn't," Lakhri said, speaking from experience. "Besides, as Eeth said, the way you're punished is not open for debate. When I tell you to bare your bottom, you do just that."

Lakhri might be a kind-hearted person, but he knew perfectly well how to give orders and make sure they were obeyed. He wouldn't have lasted long as a teacher if he didn't!

Raven didn't reply to that as there really wasn't a lot she could say. Thus, she shucked her trousers and underpants to her knees, and despite wanting to plead her case, to argue that this upgrade was mostly Grett's fault, she did not. Instead, she bent over and gritted her teeth. Raven was going to try taking this with dignity, well, as much as could be expected.

Lakhri had short arms, but he made up for that by wielding the paddle fast and furiously from the outset. This was different from Eeth's style, who usually dealt out the swats at a measured pace but tended to put the full weight of his body and the length of his arm behind it, especially when he used the small paddle. Lakhri knew he could not match either but maybe speed could make up for the lack of strength. That, and he might just get this over with faster if he did.

Raven let out a yelp which turned into a hiss and then a whine. She had not expected to be lit into with such vigour, and it took all her self-control not to jump up and start madly rubbing out the sting. And it did sting! Intensely! Instead, she did the only thing that would not earn her further displeasure, namely, gripped the chair tightly and focused on accepting this with as much dignity as she could muster. Grett was going down for this!

Lakhri was not going to stop before Raven had shed some tears, whether that left her dignity intact or not. Among other reasons, he thought he would hardly help her get rid of her feelings of guilt if he made this a token spanking. Therefore, he continued paddling at the same pace, quickly reddening her bottom. He might be small but he was also in excellent physical condition and could do this for a long time if need be. He doubted that Raven could hold up as long as he could.

Unsurprisingly, Raven was not able to take much more of this treatment before she started crying. "Lakhriii, stooppp," she whined through hisses, grunts and sniffles. She was almost turned side-on by this stage in an effort to direct the swats, not that it seemed to help.

And indeed, it just led Lakhri to aim the swats at the backs of her thighs, which were easier to reach. "Maintain your position," he said sternly while he did so, unconsciously echoing Eeth's treatment of him. For some reason, it had caused him to release his pent-up guilt in a flood of tears. If it worked the same way on Raven, that would be all for the better.

Having her thighs targeted elicited a high-pitched squeal from Raven that was possibly heard in the next building. She hated being swatted there as the skin was so much more sensitive, and it stung ten times as much! Suffice it to say, she straightened up, but her cries became more like one long screeching wail and sounded far more desperate.

At this point, Lakhri took pity on her. He dealt out five more solid swats, to her bottom this time, and then dropped the paddle.

"Alright, it's over," he said kindly. "Now will you stop blaming yourself for my own stupidity?"

Wordlessly, and still crying, Raven straightened up. One hand swiped across her face while the other started trying to rub the itchy burn from her backside. Without hesitation, she leant forward and hugged him. Just like her psyche liked to hang on to guilt, it also tended to cling to resentment, even if it wasn't warranted. It was not the case this time, however.

Lakhri readily returned the hug. He wrapped his arms around Raven and stroked her back soothingly. He assumed that she was crying over more than the pain of the paddling, and he was willing to give her all the time she needed for that. Feelings of guilt could be hard to get rid of!

This was especially true for a personality like Raven's; she tended to have a hard time letting go of things. This week had also been hard on her. It wasn't easy to go through the day enduring collective disapproval over her lack of lightsaber, only to get home and have yet further punishment waiting that evening. She cried into his tunic for a couple of minutes before finally releasing him. "Sorry, Lakhri," she apologised, both for having gotten him into this in the first place, and for the mess she had made of his tunic.

"Yes, yes, you're forgiven", said Lakhri. "Like I've told you a gazillion times before. Now stop apologising." He groped in his pocket for a handkerchief but did not find one. Fortunately, there was a box of tissues on Raven's desk, from which he pulled one and handed it to her.

Blowing her nose, Raven nodded, swiped at her eyes with the un-snotted-on end and righted her clothing. Her ass was on fire and her face was a mess, so when Lakhri left her room, Raven went into her bathroom and splashed her face. The cold tiles were bliss, but unfortunately, sitting on them would only provide temporary relief, and when she got up, her ass was burning again. She didn't want to go out to the common room, yet knew that staying in here wasn't going to work either; Eeth would call her out for the extra meditation. Thus, the padawan stuck her head around her bedroom door, finding both Jedi seated at their dining room table.

"Come on out," Lakhri said peacefully. "We won't bite you. The worst we'll do is meditate with you. Promise."

Raven's face flushed slightly. She wasn't typically embarrassed over such things; Force, she'd had her ass handed to her by numerous people during her time at the Temple, and certainly in more embarrassing places than her bedroom. Tonight, she was simply feeling a bit ashamed over the whole thing. Still, she wanted to meditate with them and so she slunk from her bedroom and joined them at the table. The chairs did not look at all appealing, so she stood next to Eeth and leant her hip into his side. Raven was no longer crying, but the occasional sniffle did catch her off guard.

Eeth recognised her need for comfort. He rested his hand on her back and rubbed it lightly. "This is going to be over soon, padawan," he said softly. "You will survive, and you will have learned from it."

Comfort was exactly what Raven wanted right now. His touch felt soothing and she could use some of that right now.

They were right, of course, it was over in a few days and Raven did indeed survive. Just!


End file.
